Spain & Portugal power outage LATEST: Electricity returns but cause of mass blackout still a mystery
THE lights are on and the bars are open as Spain and Portugal celebrate the return of electricity following a mass blackout.
Electricity had been restored to nearly 90% of mainland by early on Tuesday, the grid operator REE said.
Power was restored overnight to around 6.2m households in Portugal out of 6.5m, according to the national electricity grid operator.
Lights also came on again in Madrid and in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, last night to massive cheers.
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Lights return in Madrid after massive power outage
Lights came back on across Madrid late Monday as Spain's power operator said it was progressively overcoming a massive power outage that plunged the Iberian peninsula into darkness.
More than 35 percent of Spain's power demand was being met, the country's REE electricity operator.
Portugal's operator said it had also made gains in overcoming the outage.
"By 8:35 pm (1835 GMT) REE was meeting "35.1 percent of demand", Eduardo Prieto," REE's operations director, told Cadena Ser radio.
In Madrid, traffic lights and the storefronts of shops slowly became lit up in different districts.
REE said earlier that power was being "progressively" restored across the country.
Meanwhile Portugal's REN power operator was aiming for full restoration by Tuesday.
"I hope we will manage to balance the whole system during the night," REN administrator Joao Faria Conceicao told journalists.
Already some 750,000 customers, out of some 6.5 million, were back online Monday evening including the whole of the city of Porto.
REN reiterated there was still no firm cause for the shock mass outage.
Credit: Reuters 
Credit: Reuters 11 passenger trains stranded in Spain power blackout
Nearly nine hours after a blackout brought the Iberian peninsula to a standstill Monday, Spain's transport minister said 11 trains remained stranded with passengers on board.
"Help is still needed for 11 trains. Power has been restored to the control centre of the Atocha (station)," Transport Minister Oscar Puente wrote on X.
Electricity restored for 750,000 customers in Portugal, says power operator
Portugal's electricity provider REN said Monday evening it had restored power to some 750,000 consumers following a widespread blackout that left the nation and neighbouring Spain in the dark.
Supply stations for the largest city Porto in the country's north were back in operation and the situation was expected to normalise "shortly", an REN spokesperson told AFP of its 6.5 million clients, while the capital Lisbon remained without power.
No flights from Lisbon until 10pm
Portugal's airport operator ANA has said it does not expect flights to take off from Lisbon until 10pm local time.
IAG's Iberia cancelled 23 flights out of 247 scheduled after blackout
IAG's Spanish airline Iberia said it had cancelled 23 of the 247 flights that were scheduled on Monday after a power outage hit most of the Iberian Peninsula.
The airline said that given the difficulties to reach airports, it will offer all its passengers the possibility to reschedule their trip to their best convenience.
National emergency declared in Spain
Spain's interior ministry has declared a national emergency after today's nationwide power blackout.
The ministry added the emergency status will be applied in the regions that request it.
So far, Madrid, Andalusia and Extremadura have asked for the central government to take over public order and other functions.
Portugal's REN says no sign blackout caused by cyberattack
Portuguese grid operator REN said on Monday it had "no information" that the mass power outages that hit the Iberian Peninsula were caused by a cyberattack.
REN board member Joao Conceicao told reporters the operator did not rule out that the blackout was due to a "very large oscillation in the electrical voltages, first in the Spanish system, which then spread to the Portuguese system".
"If it were up to REN, the country would wake up tomorrow with electricity, but unfortunately it's not just REN that counts," he added.Spain's medium and long-distance trains won't resume service today
Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente has said medium and long-distance trains will likely not return to normal service today.
The minister wrote on X: "Today it is not expected that the circulation of medium and long-distance trains will be restored... We are working so that, once the electricity supply is restored, we can resume those services, which will no longer be possible today."
Panic-buying hits Spain & Portugal
Panic-stricken shoppers in Spain and Portugal are clearing out shelves and leaving supermarkets bare after the catastrophic power outages.
Chilling pictures posted on social media show bare supermarket shelves after panic-shopping swept across the regions fighting with the power cut.
Footage shows people forming huge queues outside grocery stores and ATMS to stockpile essential items and prepare for mayhem that could last for days.
There are fears that thugs will exploit the chaos to loot shops which have been flooded with customers stockpiling groceries.
Credit: X/amiip19 
Credit: TikTok/@helengrube 
Credit: Reuters
Shoppers share chilling supermarket experience
One shopper Alfonso Romay wrote on X: "It's incredible, the collective paranoia. The power goes out for 5 hours, and look at the supermarket.
"The water jugs in the image lasted less than 1 minute."
Credit: X/AlfonsoRomay 
Credit: X/hyakiluff Supermarket shelves sit empty across Portugal and Spain
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Credit: X/dramawrldd All of Spain's nuclear reactors safe from power outages
The operators of Spain's nuclear reactors are preparing to reconnect to the power grid as they recover their external electricity supply, the country's nuclear safety council said on Monday.
The only exception is the Trillo plant, which is shut down for refuelling, it said.
The nuclear safety council had said earlier that the reactors were in safe condition after a power blackout hit the country.
Four reactors stopped operating automatically after the outage, after which emergency generators kicked in.
For three reactors that weren't in operation at the time, emergency generators also started working to keep them in a safe condition, the council said.
Spain's PM says no conclusive information on cause of mass blackout
There was no conclusive information yet on the cause of the power blackout that has affected most of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
Power restored in parts of Spain
Spain is aiming to restore power nationwide "soon" after a massive blackout affecting the Iberian Peninsula brought the country to a halt on Monday, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
Interconnections with neighbouring France and Morocco have already partially restored supply, while "combined cycles and hydroelectric plants throughout the country have also been reactivated, which should allow us to recover the supply across Spain soon", Sanchez said in a televised address.
Spanish PM speaks on power outage
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is now speaking on the widespread power outage.
The PM said the cause of the power outage is still unknown, but hopes to get things back to normal by tomorrow.
Sanchez also warned people to avoid speculations, saying that no cause can be "discredited at the moment".
Credit: EPA
Transport 'screeched to a halt'
Tourist Pius Bentgens was on a tram when the power outages began.
He told The Sun: "Suddenly the tram just came to a halt.
"We could tell something was off because the air conditioning stopped - it felt eerily quiet.
"Then texts started coming in from a friend on the other side of the city that power was out there as well."
Travel chaos as flights and trains cancelled
Trains and flights have been cancelled across Spain and Portugal following the power outage.
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Brits abroad 'living in a horror film' amid power outage chaos
Publican John Stevenson, 53, is on holiday with his wife and two adult children after jetting out to Barcelona on Tuesday last week.
He said: “The first thing I noticed was I couldn’t get down from the fifth floor of my hotel, I thought it was just us to begin with.
“I went down to the supermarket and the whole place was in complete darkness, it was absolutely surreal. It was like a horror film.
“I was able to pay in cash, but at this point in a holiday I have just a little bit that I was looking to get rid of at the airport. If this went on for days it would be hell.
“I’ve got a higher car and will be driving to the airport later, but I’m nearly empty on fuel and I’ve not been able to fill up anywhere.
“It just goes to show you, everything can go from being fine, to be in potentially dangerous, completely out of the blue.”
The dad, of Southampton, Hants, added: “We are too reliant on technology. I’ve always told my kids this, and now I can see.
“I just hope nobody was hurt during this. It’s mayhem.”
Fearful locals stockpiling on essentials
In dark supermarkets that have decided to remain open, long cues of local residence were seen, some stockpiling things like toilet paper.
The Sun has seen some turned away from one store, with frightened workers telling people the shortage had spread to France and other countries.
The roads in Barcelona were gridlocked, and with no traffic lights drivers were battling for their chance to pull out of junctions.
Queues seen in shopsCredit: Daniel Hammond/The Sun Brits unable to get home in time for work as they remain stuck on holiday
Ashley Brown, 38, of Newcastle, was planning to fly home this afternoon but her plans were cut short after all card payments were cut off.
The hair stylist, who is on holiday with a pal, told The Sun: “We were looking at getting the train back to the airport but there’s no way of paying.
“All payments are down. I can’t draw any money out. It’s an absolute nightmare. I’m meant to see clients in the morning and I can’t call to cancel.”
She added: “It’s things like this that really put it into perspective for you. I’ve got no way of paying for anything, and it’s really difficult to get something simple like a bottle of water.
“My flight is gone and there’s no way I’m gonna be able to explain this, I can’t even call back home.”
'It's like being in a Netflix drama'
Portuguese musician Nuno Feist, 53, from Lisbon, told The Sun that the power outages has made people feel like they're living in a Netflix show.
He said: "It's like the dark ages here, we don't have access to news, and we can't turn on the TV.
"It's like being in the Netflix drama Zero Day. We believe it is a cyber attack."
'Living off beers and biscuits' in southern Portugal
Melanie Halsall is on the last day of a padel trip with six pals to Vale de Lobo, southern Portugal, and can't get back into the hotel room.
She told The Sun: "We were on a walk when suddenly everything went out.
"We can't buy anything because the card machines aren't working - not even water or ice cream. But we have got beer and biscuits so we're surviving on that.
"Everyone is saying it's a Russian cyber attack. It's quite worrying. We're all mums and need to contact our families, but our phones are about to run out and we can't charge them."
Melanie and her pals from Ilkley are toughing it out with beer and biscuitsCredit: handout Despite ice cream 'half price,' outages are a 'mega ball-ache'
A Brit, 29, on holiday in Barcelona, has dubbed the power outages a "mega ball ache" - but ice cream is being handed out for half price.
They also shared their fears that "looting" could begin later as day turns to night.
The Northampton local said: “It’s been half price on ice cream. Aside from that it’s a mega ball-ache."
Towns 'ghost like' in Portugal
Holidaymakers in Portugal have told The Sun of the towns being "ghost-like," with hospitals cancelling on patients and flights grounded.
One individual in Tavira told The Sun: "We have had no power since around 11:30am.
"The restaurants are trying to keep going with many cooking on gas, the shopping malls are empty as shops are closed.
"The town in general is very ghost like and it’s very strange."
In case you missed it – hospitals in Portugal cancel ALL surgeries
The Misericórdia hospitals cancelled all surgeries scheduled for today following the outage.
Manuel Lemos, president of the National Secretariat of the Union of Portuguese Misericórdias (UMP), told the Expresso newspaper: “We are finishing the surgeries that are underway and we will not start any more until the situation is resolved,” he explained.