Spain, Portugal Hit by Massive Power Outage

Post by : Omar Nasser

Photo : AFP

A big power cut hit Spain and Portugal. Many homes, shops, and streets had no electricity. Trains and planes stopped. Hospitals had to stop normal work. People could not use traffic lights or bank machines. Some had to cook food by candlelight. Later in the day, power started to come back in some places.

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The Spain government said it was a serious problem. They sent 30,000 police to help keep things calm. Both Spain and Portugal held special meetings to talk about the blackout and find out what went wrong. Blackouts this big do not happen often in Europe.

No one knows for sure why the power went out. Portugal said it started in Spain. Spain said it was because a power line from France stopped working. The leader of Portugal, Luis Montenegro, said it was not a computer attack. But some people thought it might be done on purpose. Spain’s leader Pedro Sanchez even talked to the head of NATO to stay safe.

Sanchez said Spain lost a lot of power very fast—15 gigawatts in just five seconds. That was 60% of the power the country needed. This has never happened before. A power boss from Portugal said a strong power shake in Spain may have moved to Portugal too. They are still trying to find the real cause.

Spain’s power team said the broken line from France made a big problem. It made the whole power system shut down. Some parts of France also lost power for a short time. France tried to help by giving power to Spain.

By afternoon, power came back in places like Barcelona and the Basque area. Madrid got lights back at night. Spain’s power group said 61% of the lights were working again. The gas company used backup tools to keep gas running. A worker said full power would take more hours. In Madrid, the mayor asked people to stay home. He said it was still dark on some streets and emergency cars needed clear roads.

In Portugal, cities like Lisbon got lights back later on Monday. The country’s power group said 85 of 89 stations were back to work.

The blackout caused many problems. Hospitals in Spain stopped normal care but helped very sick people using backup lights. Oil factories closed. Stores like IKEA and Lidl shut down. In Portugal, traffic lights stopped. The metro trains in Lisbon and Porto stopped too. Trains in both countries were cancelled. About 35,000 people were saved from trains, but 11 trains were still stuck in far places.

People rushed to shops to buy food. Some shelves were empty. In Madrid, people lined up in stores. The Madrid tennis match had to stop. The bank said online money work was okay, but some ATM machines did not work. With no traffic lights, some people wore safety jackets and helped cars move. Others were stuck in lifts and metro trains.

Many people left work early. Some went to streets to talk with friends. Others cooked by candlelight at home. Internet use dropped a lot—by 90% in Portugal and 80% in Spain.

Blackouts like this are very rare in Europe. In 2003, a power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a 12-hour blackout in all of Italy. In 2006, too much power use in Germany caused problems in many places in Europe and even in Africa. Spain gets 43% of power from wind and sun, 20% from nuclear power, and 23% from gas and oil.

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