OVIEDO, Spain: A massive and sudden power outage swept across Spain and Portugal on Monday afternoon, causing major disruptions to transport, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure across both countries.
The blackout, which began around midday, left large parts of Madrid, Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, and Valencia without electricity.
Spanish daily El País reported widespread travel disruptions, with airports, metro systems, and traffic lights affected.
Spain’s national electricity provider, Red Eléctrica, said it was working with energy companies to restore services.
Spain’s government convened a crisis meeting at the offices of Red Eléctrica to assess the situation, according to El País.
Meanwhile, the Spanish National Institute for Cybersecurity said it was investigating the possibility of a cyberattack, though no cause has yet been confirmed.
In Portugal, authorities reported a nationwide blackout, with Lisbon Airport among the key facilities impacted.
Communication networks were also severely affected across both countries, with mobile phone and internet services interrupted.
Some 5G networks remained intermittently operational, Anadolu Agency reported.
Spain’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, one of Europe’s busiest transport hubs, experienced a complete power failure, resulting in flight delays and widespread disruption for passengers.
The city’s metro and commuter rail services were also brought to a halt, forcing evacuations from underground stations. Traffic lights across Madrid stopped working, causing major traffic congestion.
The Madrid Open tennis tournament was temporarily suspended due to the outage. British player Jacob Fearnley was forced off court during his third-round match against Grigor Dimitrov when the loss of power disabled scoreboards and cameras, according to Sky News.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that a fire affecting a high-voltage transmission line between southern France and Spain could have contributed to the blackout by interrupting electricity exports from France to the Iberian Peninsula.
Red Eléctrica said investigations into the cause were ongoing, and that priority was being given to restoring electricity to critical services.
More than 40 minutes after the initial outage, large areas of Spain and Portugal remained without power.
