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Widespread Power Outage Disrupts Life in Spain and Portugal

Customers wait at Lisbon’s airport.

The first indication of trouble for Peter Hughes came when his train heading to Madrid began to decelerate unexpectedly. Shortly after, the TV screen and lights on the train flickered and went dark. Emergency lights activated but failed to sustain, leaving the locomotive stranded.

Four hours later, Mr. Hughes found himself still aboard the train, situated 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from Spain’s capital. Though he managed to stock up on some food and water, the toilets were rendered inoperable.

“It will be getting dark soon, and we could be stuck here for hours,” he conveyed to local media.

The extensive power failure that left Mr. Hughes marooned sent shockwaves across Spain and Portugal, impacting areas as far as Andorra and parts of France, with the blackout commencing around midday local time (10:00 GMT).

Traffic signals ceased functioning. Metro services were halted. Businesses shuttered their doors as customers scrambled for cash amid failed card transactions.

In a separate incident, Jonathan Emery was aboard a different train traveling between Seville and Madrid when the outages struck. Trapped for an hour with the doors locked, passengers finally managed to pry them open for ventilation. Following their release, they discovered they were now stranded.

Locals from nearby villages began to arrive, delivering supplies such as water, bread, and fruit. “Nobody is charging for anything, and it seems the word is spreading in the local community because people just keep coming,” Mr. Emery remarked.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Hannah Lowney was in the midst of scanning her groceries at an Aldi store when the lights flickered out. She noted that people were leaving their workplaces, unsure about the bus schedules in the absence of power.

“It’s a bit unsettling that it’s affecting the entire country; I’ve never witnessed anything like this before,” she stated in a voice message.

Mark England, enjoying lunch at a hotel restaurant in Benidorm, experienced his own moment of alarm when “everything went off, and the fire alarms began to sound with fire doors closing.”

In an international school in Lisbon, power cuts caused intermittent flickering before completely ceasing, according to teacher Emily Thorowgood, who managed to continue lessons in the dark, keeping the students upbeat. Nonetheless, many parents chose to withdraw their children from school during the fiasco.

Will David, a British resident in Lisbon, was caught in the dark while receiving a haircut in a basement barber shop. His stylist relocated him to a window on the upper level to finish the cut with scissors.

“The walk home felt surreal; the absence of traffic lights created a chaotic situation for both vehicles and pedestrians, compounded by the sight of many people outside their workplaces with nowhere to go,” he recounted.

Initially, connectivity issues arose, leaving some unable to access mobile networks and scrambling for updates regarding the situation.

Curtis Gladden, located in La Vall D’Uixo, approximately 30 miles from Valencia, described the situation as “frightening,” voicing concerns over the lack of information. Eloise Edgington, a copywriter in Barcelona, struggled to remain online, encountering difficulties loading web pages and managing her phone’s battery life.

As time wore on—over an hour and a half after the outages struck—one resident in Fortuna, located in southeastern Spain, mentioned her husband was driving around searching for a petrol station that could supply enough fuel to run a generator and power their refrigerator.

“We’re anxious about essentials like food, water, cash, and fuel, in case this lasts for days,” noted Lesley, a long-time British resident in Spain. “There’s definitely more pressing issues at hand than the Madrid Open tennis tournament being paused,” she added, highlighting concerns over the limited information regarding the situation.

Mr. England observed the atmosphere in Benidorm, noting the “majority of shops were in darkness, shuttered, or had employees at the entrance saying customers couldn’t enter. With no ATMs and non-operating traffic lights, it felt eerie.”

After about two hours, Mr. Gladden’s phone service returned, prompting residents to venture out to local cafes. However, many found that the eateries were unable to serve due to the ongoing electricity issues.

Within approximately two hours, Spain’s power grid operator, Red Electrica, announced it was initiating recovery efforts to restore electricity across northern and southern regions.

Still, Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, advised residents to “minimize movements” and remain where they were, as captured in a video from the city’s emergency security center.

By 3:00 PM local time, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez convened an “extraordinary” meeting of the national security council. Red Electrica’s CEO, Eduardo Prieto, revealed in a subsequent news conference that restoring power could take “between six and ten hours.”

Shortly before 4:00 PM, power was restored in Malaga, and by 5:00 PM, the grid operator announced a return to service “in several areas of the north, south, and west of the Iberian Peninsula.”

Conversely, Portugal’s power company, REN, offered a more pessimistic forecast, suggesting it might “take up to a week” for full service to resume.

‘No Plan for Where to Stay’

The repercussions of the power failure continued: backup generators at airports were activated, allowing most flights to operate on time, although some remained grounded.

Tom McGilloway, vacationing in Lisbon and scheduled to return to London on Monday night, expressed uncertainty regarding his situation as evening approached. He mentioned that though vendors were still providing food and drinks, they indicated that their operations would halt once their payment terminal batteries ran out.

“If I need to secure a hotel due to a flight cancellation, I don’t know how I can do that with payments down,” he expressed, highlighting the challenging circumstances.

“My partner’s parents are trying to find petrol for pick-up, but many gas stations are closed or unable to accept transactions. We might be left without a plan for the night,” he added.

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