MADRID-SPAIN: A massive power outage swept across Spain and Portugal on Monday, disrupting cellphone and internet services, halting train operations, and trapping people in elevators, officials reported.
The Spanish government raced to trace the source of the widespread blackout. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited the headquarters of Red Eléctrica, the state electricity network operator, for a briefing.
Red Eléctrica announced that restoring power could take between six and ten hours and urged the public to avoid speculating about the cause.
Social media images showed metro stations plunged into darkness, stalled trains, and office workers using phone flashlights to navigate darkened halls.
Spain’s national road authority, DGT, advised motorists to stop driving as traffic lights failed, leading to slowed traffic and requiring police to manually direct vehicles at intersections.
AFP journalists in Madrid and Barcelona observed crowds gathering on streets, holding up their smartphones in search of a signal. Spanish media also reported people being trapped in elevators.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks told AFP that the blackout severely impacted digital infrastructure, with web connectivity dropping to just 17% of normal levels.
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Portugal’s electricity operator REN confirmed the blackout affected the entire Iberian Peninsula and occurred around midday.
In France, the national grid operator reported a brief power loss in the southwest, though service was quickly restored. “An electrical incident is currently impacting Spain and Portugal, and the cause is still under investigation,” said France’s high-voltage network operator RTE.
The European Commission stated it was in communication with Spain and Portugal to better understand the underlying cause of the disruption.
Spain’s railway company Adif reported that trains were halted nationwide. Meanwhile, airports remained operational, though flights were delayed, thanks to contingency power systems, according to airport operator Aena.
Red Eléctrica said it had begun restoring power in parts of the north and south but warned that full resolution was still underway. “We continue working to restore power,” the operator stated.
Spain’s El País newspaper shared images of stranded metro trains, police directing traffic, and its reporters working in a darkened newsroom by torchlight. Hospitals managed to maintain critical operations using backup generators, though some departments were without power.
Large-scale blackouts have impacted many countries in recent years. Tunisia faced one in September 2023, Sri Lanka in August 2020, and Argentina and Uruguay experienced a major outage in June 2019. India suffered one of the largest blackouts in history in July 2012.
In Europe, a 2006 incident left 10 million people without power across France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, due to a grid failure originating in Germany.
