Electricity in Spain and Portugal is largely flowing again

After massive powerL In Spain and Portugal, the situation for millions of people on the Iberian Peninsula is slowly normalizing. The Spanish network operator Red Eléctrica announced around 4 a.m. that about 87 percent of the power supply were restored. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had promised a return to the normal state on Tuesday in a television address a few hours earlier. The power supply for 95 percent of the 6.5 million customers of the network operator of E-Redes was also restored in the neighboring country of Portugal, as the broadcaster RTP reported.

« A long night with a lot of work »

The Spanish government did not call one cause of the blackout. There is no possibility, said Sánchez. While the causes of the cause is running, according to Red Eléctrica, there was at least both in the capital Madrid – which had been without electricity for nine hours – as well as in regions such as Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, Asturias, Navarra and Valencia again overall.

During the day, countless people in Portugal and Spain had lived on trains, subways and elevators; Holidaymakers stranded at airports, and internet and telephone networks were also down. Traffic lights were out, hospitals had to switch to emergency operation with electricity generators, many Spaniards and Portuguese on the mainland could not work. In Madrid, the International Masters 1000 tennis tournament with top players such as the German professional Alexander Zverev also had to be interrupted.

Cheers from windows

According to the Spanish newspaper « El País », the massive blackout only affected the mainland, but not the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands. The capital Madrid was almost completely cut off from the outside world for hours. When the lights suddenly came back for a long time after dark, residents cheered loudly on the street, the windows and the balconies. Shouts like « Siii » (Jaaa) and « Vivaaa! » (Hurrayaa) could be heard from moving cars, other people sang enthusiastically the famous song « Y Viva España ».

Reports about « rare atmospheric phenomenon »

The problems in Portugal were caused by a disturbance in the Spanish power grid due to a « rare atmospheric phenomenon », RTP and the British broadcaster Sky News, citing the Portuguese network operator. The company is gradually restored, but the complete normalization of the network can take a week « due to the complexity of the phenomenon ». The Portuguese Ministry of Defense called on the population to rest.

According to the « El País » newspaper, Spain’s National National Institute for Cyber ​​Security had announced that it examines whether a hacker attack could be behind the power failure. According to the Portuguese EU Council President António Costa, there is currently no indication of such a cyber attack.