Massive Blackout Hits Spain and Portugal

Spain and Portugal have been hit by the largest power outage in decades, leaving nearly the entire mainland without electricity.

At approximately 12:30 PM local time, a sudden blackout disrupted public transportation, traffic lights, and ATMs, forcing hospitals to switch to backup generators. Despite the widespread disruption, Bloomberg reports that stock markets continued operating normally.
Major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, and Lisbon were among the worst affected. Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica and Portugal’s REN are working to restore power, although the exact cause of the outage has not yet been officially confirmed.

Authorities are currently investigating several possible causes, including a cyberattack. REN also suggested the incident may have been triggered by a high-voltage line failure caused by a wildfire in southwestern France. French media report that power disruptions in France were limited to border regions.

It may take 6 to 10 hours to restore electricity across Spain fully.

Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that parts of Tashkent’s Almazar district experienced temporary power outages on April 1.