https://twitter.com/SprinterObserve/status/1916941862272667985
Tonight, much of southern Europe finds itself thrown into sudden darkness. A massive and unexpected power outage swept across Spain, Portugal, parts of France, and the tiny mountain country of Andorra. Entire cities ground to a halt. Streets plunged into chaos. Lights snapped out without warning.
In Madrid, subway cars froze mid-tunnel. In Barcelona, traffic signals blinked dead, sending intersections into a dangerous ballet of honking and screeching tires. Reports from Lisbon and Porto tell a similar story. Hospitals shifted to emergency generators as the grid collapsed around them, battling to keep life support machines breathing and surgical lights shining.
Airports are choking under the pressure. Madrid-Barajas and Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport are both crippled, struggling to manage stranded travelers. Long lines snake through terminals as flights are delayed or canceled. Baggage carousels sit frozen, baggage handlers powerless to move cargo without electric motors.
On the railways, it is no better. Spain’s national rail service screeched to a halt. Trains full of passengers sit stalled between stations, crews scrambling to coordinate evacuations in places where even basic communications have gone silent. Mobile networks and internet services blinked out in city after city, creating islands of isolation inside modern metropolises.
The human impact is staggering. Spain and Portugal alone represent over 50 million people, and many of them are living tonight without power, without clear answers, and without any sense of when normalcy will return. Southern France, while less affected, reports brief outages across several districts. French energy officials moved swiftly, sending emergency electricity southward across the border to try to stabilize Spain’s battered grid.
In Andorra, high in the Pyrenees, information is harder to gather. Small, rugged, and often overlooked, the principality has confirmed disruptions but offered little detail on the scale of the damage.
Restoration is underway, but it is slow and painful. Spain’s grid operator Red Eléctrica estimates full recovery could drag on for six to ten hours. That is an eternity for a modern country where every part of life is wired to the grid.
As for the cause, theories swirl. Initial reports suggest a technical fault somewhere deep within the interwoven European energy system, a vulnerability magnified by the continent’s dependence on a synchronized grid. Some officials whispered about rare atmospheric disturbances. Others fear a cyberattack, though no evidence has been produced yet.
Investigations will come. Accusations will surely follow. But for now, the reality is simple. Millions sit powerless, peering out from darkened homes at streets that seem suddenly foreign.
Extraordinary scenes in Spain:
– Random citizens directing traffic
– People going out to buy candles
– Commuters walking through metro tunnels
– Huge queues for taxis and buses
– Stores throwing away everything they had frozen
– Blackouts in universities
– Payments only in cash— Jorge Liboreiro (@JorgeLiboreiro) April 28, 2025
Sources:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/spain-france-portugal-hit-europe-143505064.html