(DEVELOPING) A massive power outage swept across Spain, Portugal, and parts of southern France, plunging major cities into darkness and causing widespread disruption.

The blackout, which began around 12:30 PM CET, affected critical infrastructure, including airports, public transportation, and mobile networks, leaving millions of residents and businesses grappling with the sudden loss of electricity.

The cause of the outage remains unclear, though authorities have pointed to a fault in the European electricity grid as the likely trigger.

According to the NYT, the outage brought daily life to a standstill in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Valencia. In Spain, the national rail operator Renfe reported that the entire national electricity grid was cut off, halting all train services.

Madrid’s underground metro system was evacuated, with social media footage showing passengers walking through darkened tunnels in Malaga.

Traffic lights across the region stopped functioning, leading to significant traffic jams and prompting Spain’s traffic authority, the DGT, to urge people to avoid driving where possible.

Airports were also severely impacted. Madrid’s Barajas International Airport, along with airports in Seville, Barcelona, and Valencia, experienced delays and operated at reduced capacity.

Lisbon Airport closed temporarily around 1:00 PM, while airports in Porto and Faro switched to generator power.

EasyJet, a major airline, warned passengers of delays due to the outage affecting multiple essential systems at Spanish airports, describing the situation as “extraordinary and outside of our control.”

In Portugal, the Lisbon Metro and Porto’s metro systems shut down, and Fertagus trains were stranded at stations.

Hospitals across the region relied on backup generators to maintain operations, while mobile networks faced severe limitations, particularly for voice calls, though some data services remained partially functional.

The blackout disrupted businesses and public services across the affected countries.

In Murcia, Spain, restaurants stopped serving food, churches closed their doors, and crosswalk signs and traffic lights went dark, forcing drivers to navigate cautiously.

Some businesses, like a takeout restaurant in Madrid, resorted to using phone flashlights to continue operations.

In Lisbon, crowds gathered at bus stops as public transport ground to a halt, with images showing people struggling to board overcrowded buses.

Cultural and sporting events were also affected. The Madrid Open tennis tournament suspended matches, leaving spectators to roam the venue or exit as the power failure persisted.

In Madrid, residents gathered in outdoor terraces or around radios, trying to piece together information about the outage.

Spanish radio network Cadena Ser reported that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was en route to the headquarters of Red Eléctrica, Spain’s national grid operator, to assess the situation

Both Spanish and Portuguese governments acted swiftly, convening emergency cabinet meetings to address the crisis.

In Spain, Prime Minister Sánchez visited Red Eléctrica’s control center alongside the Minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, to oversee restoration efforts.

The Spanish government described the outage as “the worst power outage in recent history” and pledged to dedicate all resources to resolving it.

A crisis committee was established to manage the situation, and Red Eléctrica reported that power had been partially restored in the north and south of the peninsula within an hour of the outage.

However, full restoration was expected to take 6–10 hours, according to the operations chief of Red Eléctrica Española.

In Portugal, E-Redes, the national energy supplier, attributed the blackout to “a problem in the European electricity grid,” noting that faults in very high-voltage lines had affected regions in Spain and France as well.

The company stated that it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the network.

In France, grid operator RTE reported a brief outage but confirmed that power had been restored, with investigations into the cause ongoing. Authorities in Spain have not ruled out a possible cyberattack, though no evidence has confirmed this theory.