Barcelona, Spain (AP) – Officials in Spain and Portugal are racing to restore power earlier on Tuesday, which is in the midst of a massive outage, causing flights, paralyzing the subway system, interrupting mobile communications and shutting down ATMS.
Before dawn, when the state withdraws from a widespread power outage that has not been explained, power gradually returns to several areas in Spain and Portugal, which turns the airport and training stations into campgrounds for stranded travelers.
Spanish electricity operator Red Eléctrica said by 5 a.m. that it had recovered more than 92% of its energy demand. On Monday night, many city residents, including the Spanish capital Madrid, slept throughout the darkness.
The spire of the usually illuminated cathedral in Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Basilica is indistinguishable from the night sky. Even after a day, the streets remain deserted.
“We have a long night,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a speech to European countries late Monday. “We are working to restore power to the entire country.”
In Madrid, cheers erupted from the balcony returning from the electricity.
But more than 16 hours after the first power outage, people across the Iberian Peninsula are still trying to call loved ones, hindered by the loss of cell phone services.
Stay overnight at the train station and airport
When local rail service stopped, the train station was cleaned up, shops and offices were closed, and thousands of people flocked to the streets of Madrid. Some people resort to free-ride. The others walked for hours before they could get home.
Images of commuters broadcast by Spanish state television climbed up the unlit tunnel from the stalled train.
Spain's first responders said they rescued about 35,000 passengers along the railway and underground. Sanchez said that by 11 p.m., there were still 11 trains ready for power loss to evacuate.
In major cities, when electricity may recover uncertainty about frustration and anxiety.
French tourist Curt Muriel, who fled the dark metro with her husband and two children, and managed to escape from the rare taxi from the airport to Madrid, said: “We feel unsafe, unsure, and we don't know what to do.”
Later Monday, the power outage turned the sports center, train station and airport into temporary shelters.
“We are in northern Portugal and we do receive any notice,” said British tourist Ian Cannons. “We can't book any hotels. There's nothing.”
The Barcelona city government distributed 1,200 cribs to the indoor entertainment center to receive residents, unable to go home, and international travelers remained in trouble. People sleep on the benches and floors of the train station throughout Barcelona and Madrid.
High demand for cash and radio
As the internet and cell phone services flash offline in Spain and Portugal, battery-powered radios flew out of the shelves. Those who were lucky enough to find the service shared any news updates with strangers on the street.
People sneaked from several supermarkets running on backup generators in Barcelona and Lisbon, and people stored dry goods, water and battery-powered flashlights and candles. Since many cash registers have stopped working, the clerks have calculated the euro manually.
Hector Emperador's kid who was attending school in Barcelona picked up his child, said he resorted to attacking his son's adopted son's cattle bank to ensure he had cash and some online banking services behind the ATM and shut down some online banking services. “The coronavirus pandemic will have nothing compared to that,” he said.
Few gas stations are running, which makes drivers dare to navigate without traffic lights fighting for fuel. Residents with electric door keys find themselves locked at home.
For those with medical needs, such as insulin refrigeration or power of dialysis machines and oxygen concentrates, many inconveniences become existential threats. Some hospitals (but not all) stay open with the help of generators.
Cause unknown
Officials did not say what caused the power outage, which was the second severe European blackout in months after the Heathrow Airport fire closed the UK's busiest travel centre on March 20.
They say there is little precedent for such extensive power failures across all Iberian Peninsulars, with a total population of about 60 million. All throughout the Mediterranean, Spain’s Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and the territories of Seta and Melira were survived.
“We have never completely collapsed,” Prime Minister Sanchez said, explaining how Spain's power grid lost 15 GW in just five seconds, equivalent to 60% of its country's demand.
In a televised speech late Monday, Sanchez said authorities are still investigating what happened. Portugal's National Cybersecurity Centre threw cold water at the foul, saying there was no indication that the power outage was caused by a cyber attack.
Teresa Ribera, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, also ruled out destructiveness in her speech to journalists in Brussels. Still, she said, “the interruption is one of the worst episodes recorded in recent Europe.”
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Madrid-based Associated Press writer Suman Naishadham and Portugal's video journalist Helena Alves contributed to the report.
