Unprecedented Power Outage Hits Spain, Portugal & France; Road, Air, Rail Traffic & Mobile Networks Affected

Paris: A massive power blackout hit Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France on Monday, throwing normalcy out of gear and impacting millions of people.

The power outage affected road, rail and air traffic, as well as mobile networks, causing chaos in the region.

The cause of this unprecedented power outage is yet to be identified, with authorities saying it could take as long as 10 hours to restore the power supply.

Spain situation

The seriousness of the situation can be gauged from the fact that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez convened a crisis meeting at the headquarters of grid operator Red Electrica to discuss ways of easing the problem.

According to Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE, the power outage struck several regions around 12.30 pm local time (4 pm IST), leaving its newsroom, the Spanish parliament in Madrid and metro stations in the dark. Residents in Barcelona and its suburbs also reported the outage.

Trains across Spain have been halted, while passengers evacuated in some parts of the Madrid underground service.

Madrid’s main airport warned of significant delays due to an electrical equipment outage on the ground.

The Madrid Open tennis tournament was temporarily suspended due to the power outage.

The Mayor of Madrid José Luis Martínez-Almeida has urged residents to restrict their movements.

“I ask all residents of Madrid to keep their movements to an absolute minimum and, if at all possible, to remain where they are. We want to keep all roads clear,” the Mayor said.

Portugal scenario

In Portugal, which has a population of about 10.6 million, the blackout affected capital city Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as the northern and southern parts of the country. According to Portuguese newspaper Expresso, the outage was due to “a problem with the European electricity system,” prompting the company to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the network.

Mobile phone networks were disrupted, though some apps were functional. The Lisbon subway service had to halted operations and traffic lights in the city ceased functioning.

Portugal’s REN operator reported that the entire Iberian Peninsula and parts of France were affected. It’s a rare outage on the peninsula, which has a combined population of over 50 million.

Hundreds of tourists were stuck inside Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado airport as they stood in the dark in long queues, with no air conditioning or running water. Shops were only accepting cash.

The European Commission (EU) is communicating with authorities in Spain and Portugal, as well as the European Network of Transmission System Operators, vis-à-vis the outage.