Most of the power has returned to Spain overnight after a major blackout that blacked out large parts of the country on Monday. More than 99 percent of the electricity supply was restored on the mainland on Tuesday morning, according to the country's electricity grid operator Red Electrica.
Spain, Portugal and parts of France were hit by the blackout, the cause of which has not yet been determined. Late on Monday evening, Portugal's electricity grid operator Ren said, according to Reuters, that 85 of the country's 89 substations were back in operation. The outage is believed to have affected the entire Iberian Peninsula, home to almost 60 million people. As a result of the outage, Spain activated its emergency response.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Monday evening that around 15 GW of electricity - half of the country's electricity consumption at the time - "suddenly disappeared" in just five seconds on Monday. The collapse occurred at around 12:30 p.m.
People were "speechless," Carlos Candori, a 19-year-old construction worker, told AFP. He had to leave the paralyzed metro system in the Spanish capital, Madrid, when the collapse occurred on Monday.
- There is no phone coverage. I can't call my family, my parents, anyone. I can't even go to work. Something like this has never happened in Spain, he said.
Significant challenges due to power outages
In Madrid and in cities across Spain and Portugal, panicked customers flocked to banks to withdraw cash. Streets were filled with crowds running around to get a signal on their phones. Long queues formed in front of taxis and buses.
With traffic lights also down, police struggled to keep the congested traffic under control and moving. Authorities urged drivers to stay home.
In Madrid alone, 286 rescue operations were carried out to free people trapped in elevators, regional authorities said.
Railway stations in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville and four other major cities were kept open all night so stranded passengers could sleep there.
The European Commission said it was in contact with Spain and Portugal about the crisis. EU President Antonio Costa wrote on X that "there are no signs of a cyberattack".
/ritzau/AFP
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