An important energy cut arrived in Spain and Portugal on Monday afternoon, abruptly closing daily activities, stopping trains and underground, cutting the traffic lights, closing the stores and canceling some flights.
The cause of the blackout, which vary to dozens of millions of people in the Iberian Peninsula, was still unknown on Tuesday, thought that several officials said there were no dirty game signs.
“At this point, there are no indications of any cyber atago”, António Costa, president of the European Council, written in X after communicating with the leaders of Spain and Portugal, who both moved emergency measurements. “Network operators in both countries are working to find the cause and restore the electricity supply.”
The National Electric Company of Spain, Red Eléctrica, said early on Tuesday that almost all the energy had been restored in the country. The electricity and gas supplier in Portugal, Ren, said Monday night that he had restored 85 of his 89 substations and switching stations that drive the country’s network. But some regions remained in the dark, he said.
The interruption briefly affected France. RTE, the French Electricity Operator said in a statement that some homes in the Basque region had lost electricity but that “all energy has been restored since then.”
Even so, others remained in the dark.
The reaction throughout the region ranged from frantic storage to confusion confused to tear calmly and conform to outdated forms of electricity free life.
There were broad extension problems to connect to the Internet and telephone networks in Spain and Portugal. The lack of access to information was Bekkkering to many
“Not knowing what is happening is the part of the sausage,” said Lucia Prisco, 57. The last two five -liter water bottles were placed in a store in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, where he worked. “It’s the first time we have experienced something like this.”
Shortly after the electricity was cut, the long lines began to form the ATMs. The traffic lights and electric road signals stopped working, the Spanish traffic authority pointed out in X, asking residents to “avoid conducting as much as possible,” he thought that many could not access the message.
Shortly after the blackout, the images in the Spanish media showed chaos scenes in Madrid. Without traffic lights, vehicles blocked the wide and leafy roads of the city, and the traffic police improvised, doing everything possible to keep things in motion. At the end of the afternoon, travelers had launched their vehicles, choosing in their place walk.
The streets and squares were full of people on foot. The Spanish media were flooded with anecdotes: the train passengers, stranded for hours in the middle of nowhere, had come down their carriages and sitting next to the tracks, in the sun, waiting to be rescued.
In the Spanish city of Valencia, emergency services had been rescuing people from elevators all day. At 9 pm, the Valencia City Council announced on social networks that all those who had caught elevators have released.
But the blackout sent the main institutions to the fashion of crisis management. Hospitals in Spain had to work with generators. Portuguese banks and schools closed their doors, and the Council of Ministers of Portugal declared an energy crisis in order, he said on social networks, “to guarantee the priority in the restoration of electricity to essential services such as hospitals and telecommunications.” Madrid’s open tennis tournament was suspended, the ATP tour said.
The Prado Museum was full when the lights fell through continental Spain. At that time, a Spanish television team was recording a program inside the building. Their cameras captured the consequent confusion, showing the baffled tourists and the school of schools that left the building by the museum staff, who were concerned about the security of the treasures of the nations, including the works of art Bya Goya and Dielláa and Diegoquez.
The train trip was interrupted through Spain. Renfe, the National Rail Company of Spain, wrote in an X post that the train had stopped operating in all stations. The meters in several cities, including Valencia and Madrid, were also arrested
Later, the country’s minister of transport, Oscar Puente, said in X that the railroads would remain closed all day.
Joe Mert, professor of Geology at the University of Florida, celebrated his 30th anniversary with his wife, Michelle. But the train on which they were arrested sauked on the tracks of a rural area somewhere between Madrid and Valencia, he said in a telephone interview.
After three hours, he said, the dining cart was due to only bear and some soft drinks.
“We are out of the water,” Meert said, 67, while watching some riders get out of the train and walk to a tractor where a farmer delivered water. The train staff walked from one car to another delivering news, since the speaker no longer worked, he said.
“The last thing we heard was that there was no news,” Meert said.
On Monday night, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez or Spain said that 35,000 passengers had been trapped in about 100 trains. But later, people in just 11 trains, in more inaccessible places, still needed to be rescued, he said. Mr. Sánchez said at his press conference that the normal service would be restored on Tuesday, adding that “a long night is ahead of us.”
Earlier on Monday, he had said that about 20 percent of Spain’s air traffic had connected to ground. Some flights were also delayed, Aena, Thiches handles many Spanish airports, wrote in X.
Millions of people throughout the region tried to deal with the interruptions, while they still had a daylight.
In Lisbon, people ran to groceries to fill the water and three products. Many were not lucky: some important grocery stores were closed in the afternoon. The smallest groceries fought to fill in shelves that emptied quickly. In some counters, the employees were counting the invoices by hand using paper and pencil, since the payment systems did not work.
“It’s like when I was young, 50 years ago,” said Francisco García, 61, a boat restorer who lives in the ancient part of Lisbon. He added: “It is a reminder or how dependent we are of things outside our own control.”
During the first 30 minutes, Mr. Garcia was able to get access to news updates on his phone. Then, the news sites crashed, he said. “We are in a total blackout,” he said.
As bank card readers were not working, the payment was only in cash, when people had it. In the grocery store in his neighborhood, Rajan Basnet let the grateful buyers picked up on their empty shelves are left with the supplies they needed, equally if they could not pay.
“It could be I who need something tomorrow,” said Basnet, who moved to Portugal four years ago from Nepal.
At 3 in the afternoon, the water had disappeared, and should be collected from fresh vegetables, although it still had fish and rows of cookies and cookies.
Due to the power cut, the courts In Murcia, in Southvern Spain, children and cultural events were closed. Police officers were parked at the main intersections to direct traffic.
“We ensure that the Civil Guard is ready for the night, because nothing works,” said Maria Contreras, a spokeswoman for the city, from a dark corridor in the town hall. “No one’s security cameras are working; nothing is working. The traffic lights, nothing. And we are waiting to see when he returns.”
Despite confusion, many seemed to adapt to interruption. In Murcia, some picnicate in a park. The restaurant terraces were full. And while the midday sunlight still shone intensely, the interior flamenco classes continued, while people practiced in the light that flowed from the windows.
In the center of Lisbon, the sound that emanates from Barberia Oliveira, much softer than the usual buzzing of clippers. The barbers cut their hair quietly with scissors. They wondered aloud if the blackout was an infrastructure problem, natural disaster or international interference.
“The Portuguese are quite relaxed with things,” said Digo Cardozo, one of the barbers. “It takes us for a while before we start scaring.”
Besids added with a laugh: “Things do not always work so well in Portugal anyway. If this were Belgium, it could be different.”
Another barber, Nuno Alves, said the biggest concern was what would happen after the blackout ended.
“We can handle the blackout,” he said. “But the sausage would be if they do not completely explain what happened.”
Ephrat Livni” Tiago Carrasco and Nazaneen Ghaffar Contributed reports.
