Power outages bring Spain and Portugal to standstill

Spanish PM declares a state of emergency in some regions ca. 5]

- ALBERT TOTH BRYONY GOOCH

Spain has declared a state of emergency in parts of the country after it and neighbouring Portugal were brought to a standstill by major power outages.

The outages hit vast areas across the two countries and left operators scrambling to restore electricity to millions of homes and businesses.

Traffic was gridlocked, flights grounded and trains suspended while people were trapped in elevators and left without water supplies. Whole cities were cut off with mobile networks, wifi, ATMs and card machines inoperative during the disruption, which began yesterday afternoon.

Spain’s Ministry of Interior said the emergency status will be applied in the regions that request it, with Madrid, Andalusia and Extremadura asking the central government to take over public order and other functions.

In Portugal, the outage hit the capital, Lisbon, and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country. Meanwhile, Spain’s capital, Madrid, as well as major cities like Barcelona and Valencia, were also affected.

Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica said the massive blackout had affected the Iberian Peninsula and it was working with energy companies to restore power.

The massive blackout was due to a sudden, large drop in power supply that caused the grid interconnection between Spain and France to trip, according to Spanish grid operator REE.