Massive power blackout hits Spain and Portugal disrupting traffic, flights | World News

Large parts of Spain and Portugal suffered a major power blackout on Monday, bringing public transport to a halt, causing major traffic jams, and delaying flights, Reuters has reported. Utility operators were working urgently to restore the grid.
Authorities said the cause of the outage was still unknown an hour after it struck, though a cyber attack had not been ruled out. Investigations were ongoing, officials told Reuters. A crisis committee was formed in Spain to manage the emergency, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Emergency cabinet meetings were held in both Spain and Portugal following the outage, which also briefly affected a part of neighbouring France.
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A woman uses her cell phone’s flashlight in the dark after the matches get suspended due to a power outage. (Reuters)
Portugal’s utility company REN confirmed a significant disruption in electricity supplies across the Iberian Peninsula, also impacting parts of France. Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica said it was collaborating with regional energy companies to bring services back online.
“All plans for the phased restoration of energy supply are being activated, in coordination with European energy producers and operators,” a REN spokesperson told Reuters. They added that REN remained “in permanent contact with official entities, namely the National Civil Protection Authority” and that investigations into the cause were continuing.
The blackout forced play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament to be suspended. 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and British player Jacob Fearnley were forced off the court as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power.
Spanish radio stations said part of Madrid’s underground network was evacuated. According to Cadena SER Radio, traffic lights failed, causing heavy traffic in the city centre.Story continues below this ad
A woman reads a book, at Joaquin Sorolla train station, after passengers were stranded during a power outage which hit large parts of Spain, in Valencia, Spain. (Reuters)
A Reuters witness reported that hundreds of people were standing outside office buildings in Madrid, with police heavily present around key locations, directing traffic and patrolling streets with flashing lights. One of the four major tower buildings in Madrid, which houses the British Embassy, had been evacuated, the witness added.
Local media also reported that people were trapped in stalled metro trains and lifts.
In Portugal, police confirmed that traffic lights were down nationwide, metros were closed in Lisbon and Porto, and trains were not running. Lisbon’s metro operator, Metropolitano de Lisboa, said the subway system had stopped completely with passengers still inside trains, according to Publico newspaper.
Lisbon Airport was operating on back-up generators, a source at Portugal’s TAP airline told Reuters. Meanwhile, AENA, which runs 46 airports across Spain, reported flight delays throughout the country.Story continues below this ad
France’s grid operator RTE said there had been a brief outage but power had since been restored. RTE confirmed that it was still investigating the cause.
Spain’s grid boss, Eduardo Prieto, says restoring power could take between 6 to 10 hours.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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