Blackout affects millions in Spain, Portugal
BARCELONA Spain A blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday stopping trains cutting phone function and shutting down traffic lights and ATMs for millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula Spanish power distributor Red El ctrica declined to speculate on the cause and reported restoring power fully could take six to hours Head of operations Eduardo Prieto described journalists it was unprecedented calling the event exceptional and extraordinary Spain s Prime Minister Pedro S nchez noted a strong oscillation in the European grid was behind the outage but the cause was still being determined He sought the constituents to refrain from speculation and urged people to call urgency services only if really necessary It was the second serious European power outage in less than six weeks after a March fire shut down Heathrow Airport in the U K and it came as administration across Europe gird against sabotage backed by Russia The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center in a announcement mentioned there was no sign the outage was due to a cyber attack Teresa Ribera European Commission executive vice president in charge of promoting clean resource indicated the same to journalists in Brussels and called the power outage one of the the greater part serious episodes recorded in Europe in fresh times The outage began at midday Offices closed and traffic was snarled in Madrid and Lisbon while particular civilians in Barcelona directed traffic Train services in both countries stopped It wouldn t be practicable to restart trains later Monday even if the power returned Spain s Transportation Minister Oscar Puente posted on social media I don t know how I am going to get home noted Barcelona resident Ivette Corona as she watched a large group people fail to get on a bus that briefly stopped to squeeze in a couple of passengers Hospitals and other crisis services switched to generators Gas stations stopped working It was not realizable to make calls on selected mobile phone networks though specific apps were working People searched for battery-powered radios It is rare to have such a widespread outage across the Iberian Peninsula with a combined population of about million people Spain s Canary Islands Balearic Islands and the territories of Ceuta and Melilla located across the Mediterranean in Africa were not affected Spain s prime minister convened an extraordinary meeting of the National Safeguard Council The Portuguese Cabinet convened an crisis meeting at the prime minister s residence Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro reported he had spoken several times to S nchez and expected power to be restored by the end of the day Portugal s authorities announced the outage appeared to stem from problems outside the country an official explained national news agency Lusa Electricity was being pulled from Morocco and France to restore power to southern and northern Spain Spain s prime minister disclosed thanking their governments Spain was also increasing the production from hydroelectric and combined cycle thermal power plants A graph on Spain s electricity infrastructure website showing demand across the country indicated a steep drop around p m from megawatts to near megawatts Spanish airports were operating on backup electrical systems and specific flights were delayed according to Aena which runs airports in Spain including Madrid and Barcelona In Lisbon terminals closed and tourists sat outside waiting for news about flights We haven t seen any plane arriving or departing in the minutes we ve been waiting here commented Dutch tourist Marc Brandsma The Spanish Parliament in Madrid closed Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended We are lucky Particular people got trapped in the metro And there is a positive side We are talking more with each other noted Monste Cort s in Barcelona She revealed dinner would be sliced bread and cold cuts People queue at a bus stop at Cibeles Square in downtown Madrid as the subway and trains are totally out of institution due to a massive power outage in Spain on Monday Photo by Thomas Coex AFP via Getty Images A police officer tells travelers to vacate the area in front of Atocha rail station during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France in Madrid on Monday Photo by Paul Hanna AFP via Getty Images
