Yes indeed I have seen the news about the large electrical substation accident in Astoria! In fact, it was only about 10-20 blocks from where I’m staying in New York. I heard the pop, lost power (but not internet after the brownout, thankfully) and could smell the O2 and O3 through the window.

A professional acquaintance suggested this be called the Astoria Borealis. Unfortunately, I have not gained superpowers nor transformed into Godzilla thanks to this incident.

I am physically safe, though, and hope that the ConEd folks and the FDNY responders were minimally harmed. Because gosh it made for good memes on Gothamist.