Millions of people across Spain, Portugal and parts of southern France have been left without electricity and internet access today, Monday, following a sudden and widespread power outage around 12:30pm local time.
The Spanish government haveconfirmed to the press that a “massive collapse” of the power system had occurred but admitted they did not yet know the cause. Officials have not ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack, but said investigations were ongoing.
The country’s national electricity operator, Red Eléctrica, confirmed the incident was “significant” and that emergency plans to restore power had been activated, working closely with energy companies across the region.
Transport across Spain ground to a halt, with Madrid’s commuter rail service, Cercanías, and the capital’s Metro network both suspending operations due to the blackout. Renfe, Spain’s national rail operator, said that trains had been “brought to a standstill” and no further departures would be made until power was restored.
The outage also triggered widespread disruptions to mobile phone networks and internet services. Major telecoms provider Telefónica reported interruptions to both voice and data services. Critical infrastructures, including airports, hospitals and banks, were left relying on emergency generators to continue operations.
Despite the alarming scale of the outage, no serious incidents have been reported so far.
Energy industry sources have confirmed that the blackout has affected almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, stretching across Spain and Portugal and into parts of southern France.
Social media platforms were quickly flooded with posts from bewildered users reporting power failures in cities across the affected areas.
Authorities said they are working “around the clock” to restore full service, though the exact cause of the failure remains a mystery.
Meanwhile, the Canary Islands have, for now, escaped the chaos. Officials confirmed that the archipelago, located off the coast of northwestern Africa, had not been impacted by the outage.
More updates to follow as the situation develops.
