After a severe shutdown hit the Iberian peninsula, which left thousands of passengers trapped in trains and hundreds of elevators, and millions of people lost access to phone and digital coverage, lights in Spain and Portugal suddenly returned to life on Tuesday.
By early Tuesday, the REE power operator reported that more than 80 % of Spain’s national electricity supply had been restored. Both in Madrid and in the capital of Portugal, the lamps were once on.
The island, which has a combined population of about 60 million, barely escaped. No definitive explanation for the stoppage has yet been established, despite widespread rumors about cyberattacks on messaging platforms.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro claimed Spain was the origin of the interruption. Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, stated that” all the potential causes” were being looked at and that it was best to” not speculate” because of the possibility of “misinformation.”
Sanchez claimed that about 15 terawatts of light, which was more than half of the energy being used at the time,” immediately disappeared” in about five hours.
Sanchez was unable to specify when the country’s energy may be completely restored, and he forewarned that some workers may be forced to stay at home on Tuesday. Portugal’s strength was predicted to return “within time,” according to Montenegro.
According to the national electric grid operator, power was restored to about 6.2 million of Portugal’s 6.5 million households immediately.
Morocco experienced disruption to some online providers and aircraft check-in systems while the outage briefly rippled into south France.
Carlos Candori, a 19-year-old construction worker who had to leave the paralyzed Madrid metro system, said that people were” stunned.” In Spain,” this has never occurred.”
He told AFP,” There is no ( phone ) coverage, I can’t even go to work, call my family, my parents, and nothing.”
Money vending machines
In Madrid and other cities in Spain and Portugal, panicked users flocked to banks to withdraw money, and streets filled with people frantically looking for a phone message. Longer lines formed for buses and taxis.
Authorities struggled to keep densely crowded customers moving after stop lights were out, and they urged drivers to be home.
According to local authorities, 286 rescue operations were conducted in Madrid solely to completely people who were trapped in lifts.
The transport secretary reported that there were still 11 trains carrying stranded customers who needed assistance after trains were halted across the nation late on Monday.
Railway facilities in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, and four different big cities were planned to remain open all night but that stranded travelers may rest there.
The Spanish Nuclear Safety Council ( CSN) reported that diesel generators kept the country’s nuclear power plants in a” safe condition” as a precautionary measure that automatically shut them down.
Major disturbance
Sanchez claimed that the blackout, which occurred shortly after midday, resulted in” severe disruption” for millions of people and “economic loss in businesses, in organizations, in business.”
The Western Commission stated that it was in contact with Spain and Portugal as a result of the issue. Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, stated on X:” There are no signs of any cyberattack.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, urged Sanchez to aid him in a phone call, noting that since Russia has been attacking its electricity generator for three years, its industry has become specialized in such emergencies.
No matter what happens, he said on X,” We are always ready to assist and aid our companions.”
According to German air traffic organization Eurocontrol, the enormous power cut halted airlines to and from Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon.
France impacted
Barcelona, Spain’s second town, was also rife with traffic chaos, with both locals and tourists attempting to discover what had happened.
When the lamps went up, student Laia Montserrat left the building.
They told us to go home because the web wasn’t returning, but railways were also present, she told AFP. We are presently unsure of what to do.
According to Netblocks, an internet activity monitoring site, the blackout resulted in the loss of” a significant portion of the country’s modern infrastructure.” Web links were only 17 % of typical usage, according to the report.
According to Spanish paper El Pais, facilities operated backup producers to keep operating rooms operational, but some products were left without power.
In recent years, numerous disruptions have affected various countries all over the world.
Incredibly power interruptions affected Tunisia in September 2023, Sri Lanka in August 2020, and Argentina and Uruguay in June 2019. India went through a significant outage in July 2012.
In France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain, 10 million people were left without power for an afternoon in November 2006. That was brought on by a malfunction in Germany’s generator.
