{"id":35527,"date":"2025-04-29T08:48:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/?p=35527"},"modified":"2025-04-29T08:48:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:03:21","slug":"massive-power-outage-paralyzes-spain-and-portugal-states-of-emergency-declared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/?p=35527","title":{"rendered":"Massive Power Outage Paralyzes Spain and Portugal, States of Emergency Declared"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spain and Portugal were thrown into chaos on Monday after a massive, unexplained power outage left millions without electricity, disrupted transport, and forced both governments to declare states of emergency. The blackout hit the entire Iberian Peninsula and even parts of southern France just after midday, according to Portugal\u2019s national grid operator, Redes Energ\u00e9ticas Nacionais (REN). While power was gradually being restored by evening, authorities were still in the dark about what caused the sudden outage. In cities like Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Seville, traffic lights went out, subway trains stopped mid-journey, and airports descended into confusion. Madrid\u2019s roads quickly became clogged as drivers, without traffic signals, struggled to navigate intersections. \u201cIt was like a jungle,\u201d said Luis Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez Jim\u00e9nez, who found himself dodging a massive bus in the chaos.
Spain\u2019s Interior Ministry quickly declared a state of emergency in several regions, including Madrid, while Portugal\u2019s Prime Minister Luis Montenegro announced an energy crisis after an emergency cabinet meeting. Restoring the grid, REN warned, would be a \u201ccomplex operation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Monday night, around half of Spain\u2019s power needs were being met again, according to Environment Minister Sara Aagesen. Social media showed scenes of people cheering in Portuguese neighborhoods as lights flickered back on.
Meanwhile, officials urged citizens to stay off the roads and conserve emergency services for urgent cases only. Madrid\u2019s mayor advised residents to avoid unnecessary movement, while local leaders called for military support to manage the situation.
While cyberattacks were initially feared, European Council President and former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said there were “no indications” of hacking. Portuguese authorities pointed fingers at Spain, suggesting the outage likely originated there. Portugal, which depends heavily on importing Spanish electricity during the morning hours, was left particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blackout hit the heart of southern Europe hard. Major hubs like Madrid and Barcelona \u2013 among the busiest airports in Europe \u2013 saw severe disruptions. In Lisbon\u2019s Humberto Delgado Airport, passengers stood in long lines in the dark, with no air conditioning or running water, and shops accepting only cash.
Train services were suspended across Spain, and Madrid\u2019s metro network ground to a halt, with passengers evacuated from darkened tunnels. Across cities, supermarkets and restaurants shuttered their doors, and firefighters carried out over 170 rescue operations in stuck elevators.
Hospitals and emergency services switched to backup generators, and nuclear sites in Spain were confirmed safe. Still, authorities warned that the full recovery would take time, with Spain\u2019s transportation ministry announcing that medium and long-distance trains would not resume until at least Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even sporting events weren’t spared \u2013 matches at the Madrid Open tennis tournament were suspended as the lights went out.
Though some areas of southern France near the Spanish border experienced brief, minor outages, the real impact was felt on the Iberian Peninsula, where tens of millions spent the day asking the same questions: when will power return, and what exactly went wrong?
As power steadily comes back, authorities are bracing for days of cleanup and major backlogs, especially at airports where travelers face significant delays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spain and Portugal were thrown into chaos on Monday after a massive, unexplained power outage left millions without electricity, disrupted transport, and forced both governments to declare states of emergency. The blackout hit the entire Iberian Peninsula and even parts of southern France just after midday, according to Portugal\u2019s national grid operator, Redes Energ\u00e9ticas Nacionais …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,37,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline","category-news","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35534,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35527\/revisions\/35534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}