An important current interruption struck Spain and Portugal on Monday afternoon, abruptly closing daily activities, stopping the trains and subway, cutting the traffic lights, closing the shops and canceling or delaying some flights.
The cause of the blackout, which blocked tens of millions of people throughout the Iberian peninsula, was still unknown by Tuesday morning, although several officials said there were no signs of dirty game.
“At this point, there are no indications of any computer attack,” wrote António Costa, president of the European Council, after communicating with the leaders of Spain and Portugal, who both brought together emergency meetings. “The operators of the network in both countries are working to find the cause and to restore electrical supply”.
The National Power Company of Spain, Red Eléctric, said at the beginning of Tuesday that almost all the power had been restored in the country. The electricity and gas supplier in Portugal, Ren, said he was late on Monday that he had restored 85 of his 89 subsits and switching that fueled the country's network. But some regions remained in the dark, he said.
The interruption briefly influenced France. RTE, the operator of the French electricity grid, declared in a declaration that some families in the Basca region had lost electricity but that “all the power has been restored”.
However, others remained in the dark.
The reaction throughout the region went from frenetic sketch to confused amazement to land calmly and settle for ways of living ancient without electricity.
There have been widespread problems that connect to the Internet and telephone networks in Spain and Portugal. The lack of access to the information was disconcerting for many
“Don't know what's going on is the worst part,” said Lucia Prisco, 57 years old. The last two bottles of five liter water were taken in a shop in Lisbon, in the capital of Portugal, where he worked. “It is the first time that we experience something like that.”
Shortly after electricity was cut, the long lines began to form outside the automatic counters. The traffic lights and electric road signals stopped working, the Spanish traffic authority observed on X, asking the residents to “avoid driving as much as possible”, although many could not access the message.
Shortly after the blackout, the videos in the Spanish media showed chaos scenes in Madrid. Without working traffic lights, the vehicles blocked the large and leafy avenues of the city and the traffic police improvised, doing their best to keep things in motion. In the late afternoon, the commuters had abandoned their vehicles, choosing instead of walking.
Roads and squares were full of people on foot. The Spanish media were flooded with anecdotes: the passengers of the train, blocked for hours in the middle of nowhere, had climbed from their carriages and were sitting next to the tracks, in the sun, waiting to be saved.
In the Spanish city of Valencia, the emergency services had saved people from the elevators all day. At 9:00 pm, the City Council of Valencia announced on social media that all those who had been trapped in the elevators had been freed.
But the Blackout sent the main institutions in crisis management mode. The hospitals in Spain had to run on generators. Portuguese banks and schools closed the doors and the Council of Portugal Ministers has declared an energy crisis in order, said on social media, “to ensure priority in restoring electricity to essential services such as hospitals and telecommunications”. The Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended, said the ATP tour.
The Prado Museum was full when the lights lowered through continental Spain. At the time, a Spanish television crew was recording a show inside the building. His cameras captured the consequent confusion, showing tourists and bewildered schoolchildren who were inaugurated by the building by the Museum staff, who were worried about the safety of some treasures of the nation, including works of art of Francisco Goya and Diego Velázquez.
The train journey has been interrupted throughout Spain. Renfe, Spain's National Rail Company, wrote in a X post that the trains had stopped operating in all stations. The subway in different cities, including Valencia and Madrid, have been interrupted
Later, the country's transport minister Oscar Puente said on X that the railways would remain closed all day.
Joe Meert, professor of Geology at the University of Florida, was celebrating his thirtieth anniversary with his wife, Michelle. But the train in which they were found suddenly stopped on the tracks in a rural area somewhere between Madrid and Valencia, he said in a telephone interview.
After three hours, he said, the dining cart was only up to beer and some soft drinks.
“We are without water,” said Mr. Meert, 67 years old, while looking at some cyclists to get off the train and walk to a tractor in which a farmer was delivering water. The train staff walked from a car in the car, delivering news, since the speaker no longer worked, he said.
“The last thing we heard was that there were no news,” said Meert.
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain said that 35,000 passengers had been trapped on about 100 trains. But later, people on only 11 trains, in more inaccessible places, had to be saved, he said. Sánchez said in his press conference that the normal service would have been restored on Tuesday, adding, however, that “a long night is in front of us”.
On Monday, he said that about 20 percent of Spain's air traffic had been put to the ground. Also some flights have been delayed, Aena, which manages many Spanish airports, wrote on X.
Millions of people throughout the region tried to face the interruptions while they still had the daylight to be saved.
In Lisbon, people ran to food stores to fill the water and dried goods. Many were unfortunate: some important grocery stores were closed in the afternoon. The smaller expenditure struggled to fill the shelves they were rapidly emptying. To some counters, the employees were calculating the bills by hand using paper and pen, since the payment systems did not work.
“It's like when I was younger, 50 years ago,” said Francisco Garcia, 61 years old, a boats restorer who lives in the old part of Lisbon. He added: “It is a reminder of how much we are dependent on things outside our control”.
For the first 30 minutes, Mr. Garcia was able to access the news updates on his phone. So, the news sites crashed, he said. “We are in a total blackout,” he said.
Since the readers of bank cards did not work, the payment was only in cash, when people had it. In his food store in his neighborhood, Rajan Basnet let the grateful buyers gathered his emptying shelves went with the supplies they needed, even if they couldn't pay.
“I could be the one who needs something tomorrow,” Basnet said, who moved to Portugal four years ago by Nepal.
By 15:00, the water had disappeared and most of the fresh vegetables were collected, although they still had canned fish and rows of crackers and biscuits.
Due to the cutting of energy, the courts In Murcia, in the South -East of Spain, the activities of children and the cultural events canceled were closed. Police officers were stationed in important crossings to direct traffic.
“We are ensuring that the civil guard is ready for the night, because nothing works,” said Maria Contreras, spokesman for the city, from a dark corridor in the town hall. “Nobody's security cameras are working; nothing works. The traffic light, nothing. And we are waiting to see when it comes back.”
Despite the confusion, many seemed to adapt to interruption. In Murcia, some picninate in a park. The terraces of the restaurants were full. And while the Solar Light of Mezzogiorno shone still brilliantly, the internal flamenco lessons continued, while the people exercised in the light flowing from the windows.
In the center of Lisbon, the sound from Barberia Oliveira was much softer than the usual buzz of Clippers. The barbers were cutting the hair calmly with scissors. They wondered aloud if the blackout was a problem of infrastructure, natural disaster or international interference.
“The Portuguese are quite relaxed for most things,” said Diogo Cardozo, one of the barbers. “It takes a while before starting to go crazy.”
In addition, he added with a laugh: “Things don't always work so well in Portugal. If this were Belgium, it could be different.”
Another barber, Nuno Alves, said that the biggest concern was what would happen after the end of the blackout.
“We are able to manage the blackout,” he said. “But the worst thing would be if they don't completely explain what happened.”
Ephratar Livni, Tiago Carrasco AND Nazaneen Ghaffar Contributed relationships.