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30-04-2025
MADRID/ LISBON: Major power outages across large areas of Spain and Portugal, as well as parts of southern France, knocked out traffic lights and disrupted public transportation and airport operations on Monday.
Officials did not say what caused the outages, but several denied any foul play.
“Grid operators in both countries [Spain and Portugal] are working on finding the cause, and on restoring the electricity supply,” the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, wrote in a post on social media.
Costa was the prime minister of Portugal between 2015 and 2024.
“At this point, there are no indications of any cyberattack,” he said.
What happened in Europe and when?
Power outages swept across much of the Iberian Peninsula around 10:30 GMT 12:30pm local time in Spain, and 11:30am in Portugal.
Parts of southern France were also briefly affected, but the service was quickly restored.
Critical infrastructure was heavily impacted: Metro systems in Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon were shut down, while major airports such as Madrid-Barajas and Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado faced significant delays and partial closures.
According to Spanish newspaper El Pais, the outage “set Spain back to the 19th century”.
“Trains are not operating and traffic lights are down, causing chaos. Many cities are completely dark,” journalist Step Vaessen said, reporting from Valencia Airport in Spain.
“Authorities have stated that it is the first time in history such a large-scale blackout has occurred,” she added.
Where did the outage happen?
Spain and Portugal, home to around 60 million people together, were the worst affected.
Spain: Major urban centres such as Avila, Madrid, Murcia, Galicia, Alicante, Zaragoza, Barcelona and Seville reported widespread disruptions. The Canaries and Balearic Islands were not affected.
Portugal: Lisbon and Porto experienced comparable challenges.
Southern France: Parts of the French Basque Country saw brief power outages. But officials from the French electricity transmission network said the interruptions lasted only a few minutes.
Morocco: Some reports suggested that internet providers in Morocco also struggled to keep their services up, briefly, because of network connections with France and the outages there.
What else was affected?
The Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended for the day. Organizers said there would be no more action on Monday “in order to guarantee general safety”.
Madrid’s firefighters carried out more than 200 “elevator interventions” across the city while health services carried out 167 interventions, most for respiratory issues and anxiety attacks.
Meanwhile in Lisbon, according to local media reports, people rushed to grocery stores to stock up on water and non-perishable goods.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said that everything points to the major blackout starting in Spain.
The exact cause is still unclear, and while there’s no evidence yet of a cyberattack, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he isn’t ruling anything out. He warned against speculation, but said “no cause can be discredited at this point”. (Int’l News Desk)
