The skyline of lower Manhattan sits in darkness after a preventive power outage in New York October 29, 2012. (Reuters/KEITH BEDFORD)

NEW YORK - Nineteen workers were trapped inside a Consolidated Edison power station on the east side of Manhattan Monday night by rising floodwaters that accompanied the surge from powerful storm Sandy, according to a Reuters witness.

A rescue worker, who declined to be named, said the station had suffered an explosion inside.