The extent of the power failure in Portugal in pictures

On the Iberian Peninsula and in parts of France, the electricity failed on Monday from 12.30 p.m. local time. Redes Energéticas Nacionais, in short, confirmed the power failure and announced that plans to gradually restore the power supply were in force. The Portuguese Prime Minister said that he hoped that the power supply could be restored « in the next few hours ».

In the meantime, several infrastructural areas are affected from the north to the south of the country, which leads to significant restrictions. So thousands of people were stuck at the Lisbon airport because of the power failure. On Monday afternoon, thousands were waiting in front of Terminal 1 of the Humberto Delgado Airport, near a closed subway station and a clogged street.

A similar scenario offered the metro in Lisbon, whose operation was set. At lunchtime, the green and red lights worked on and getting out at the area at lunchtime, which is why some people accidentally get in. The Colégio Militar train station was also evacuated late in the morning. This was closed and civil servants had to keep people from entering the train station.

At the bus stations in different parts of Lisbons, snakes form, but also Carris, the company that operates local public transport in the city of Lisbon has had communication problems since the power failure.

The pharmacies also have to deal with considerable restrictions because they cannot validate recipes. If the power supply will not be restored soon, the generators could fail what the storage of medication that would have to be cooled, such as vaccines would endanger, warned the National Pharmacy Association (ANF).

In the health sector, the Santa Maria hospital started its emergency plan and suspended the planned activities. The São João Hospital also acted in Porto and suspended planned and non -priority activities, with the warning that « the reactionability of the generators depends on the administration of the available fuel ».

Shops closed

The general director of the Portuguese association of retailers Aped confirmed to Lusa that some businesses were closed for security reasons, but the situation was not the same in the whole country and he hopes that the situation would normalize again in a few hours.

« The unprecedented situation that we experience has caused some business to close their doors for security reasons », primarily for employees, customers and consumers, and, in the case of supermarkets, for reasons of food safety, « said the President of the Aped. » The good news is that many of the Aped members are active abroad, especially in Spain, where there were also problems with energy supply.

This article first appeared at Contacto. Translation and editing: Marvin pushing.