During a power cut, you'd expect someone to be making sure people are ok and just generally taking control of the situation... probably the police, right?

Well, during last night's outage in New York, which saw parts of the city lost to the Dark Side, with streetlights and stoplights out for the count, local residents came out in force to help keep traffic moving. And they used lightsabers to do it.

Yeah, as it turns out, New York was full of Star Wars fans ready to help their neighbours during the city's hour of need.

New York Times reporter Liam Stack was covering the power cuts and spotted the would-be Jedis patrolling the streets and keeping drivers moving.

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Now that it's getting dark the civilians directing traffic in Hell's Kitchen are using whatever light they can get, including cellphones and... light sabers #NYCblackout pic.twitter.com/R4eEb7yXJa

- Liam Stack (@liamstack) July 14, 2019

Sharing photos of the bizarre display of goodwill, the reporter tweeted: "Now that it's getting dark the civilians directing traffic in Hell's Kitchen are using whatever light they can get, including cellphones and... light sabers."

Residents and bystander were also sharing pictures of locals using the weapons to direct cars.

One shocked onlooker said: "This Good Samaritan was doing it in style with a lightsaber!"

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Posting a photo of a different resident, a second wrote: "This guy is directing traffic with a legit lightsaber."

Whenever a crisis occurs - New Yorkers always step up to help out selflessly.



We are the greatest city in the world because of the people who live here!



Thank you to this amazing New Yorker from all of us in government! https://t.co/BVytgq7mLJ

- Corey Johnson (@CoreyinNYC) July 14, 2019

Speaking to CNN about the blackout, one woman who got out and gave her neighbours a hand, said she just had to do something.

She said: "I know how tricky it is when it comes to that intersection and I just saw in my mind car accidents, people getting hit, people screaming. So I felt like I should have just tried."

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The outage is said to have been caused by a mechanical problem at a substation that lasted around three hours, with power coming back on at 10pm.