Power Outage Causes Chaos In Spain And Portugal

A massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread chaos and disruption.

The outage left millions of people without electricity, while internet and phone networks were also down.

Trains were cancelled and evacuated in some regions, and traffic lights stopped working as delays mounted at airports.

With shops, homes and restaurants plunged into darkness – and some people stuck in lifts – Spain’s electricity network said by mid-afternoon that restoring power could take several hours.

Spain’s political leaders said the cause of the disruption was still unknown but there was no indication of a cyber attack.

The first reports of an outage began around midday (10:00 GMT) on Monday and its impact quickly escalated.

As the scale of the disruption became clear, residents of Madrid were warned to stay put, keep off the roads and not to call emergency services unless “truly urgent”.

A Spanish operator said power restoration would take up to 10 hours, while Portugal’s power firm REN said getting back to full power could take up to a week.

Queues formed at cash machines as card payments were affected by the outage, and there were reports that some petrol stations are closed.

Spanish media reported that some hospitals had implemented emergency plans, including halting routine work, news agencies reported.

By early evening and after several hours of blackouts, residents in some parts of the country reported the lights are back on.

Power was being restored “in several areas of the north, south and west of the [Iberian] peninsula”, the Spanish grid operator said.

BBC