April 28, 2025 Becomes a Day of ‘Chaos’ for Spain and Portugal

By the early hours of Tuesday, April 29, reports emerged from both countries indicating that power distribution had largely been restored.

Unexpected, widespread blackouts left nearly 60 million people across Spain and Portugal in disarray.

Life in the two countries came to a complete halt, with major disruptions in both land and air transportation. Public transit systems nearly collapsed. Several trains halted mid-route, forcing passengers to be evacuated—some stranded in remote areas for hours. Metro systems stopped suddenly, leaving people struggling to exit through tunnels. Traffic lights failed, causing massive vehicle congestion. Stores and restaurants were left in total darkness.

Worse still, internet services went down, cutting access to data, information, and digital services. Banking operations and government functions were suspended. Communication became impossible.

People were trapped in elevators. In Madrid alone, emergency services conducted 286 elevator rescue operations.

In addition to internet disruptions, mobile networks also went offline in parts of Spain.

France also experienced brief power outages in some regions. French grid operator RTE later stated that the situation had returned to normal.

BBC climate and science correspondent Georgina Rannard said the event was a stark reminder of the vulnerability of national power systems. She reported that “everyone I’ve spoken to is, quite literally, stunned.”

Kristian Ruby, Secretary General of Eurelectric—an umbrella organization for the European electricity sector—attributed the outage to an incident involving the France-Spain interconnection. Spanish authorities, meanwhile, blamed sudden atmospheric changes triggered by a sharp temperature spike.

Portugal’s electricity operator REN also stated that the disruption was caused by a “rare atmospheric phenomenon.”

Still, the explanations offered by electricity providers and national authorities have failed to satisfy the public.

Source: BBC Türkçe