A widespread power failure affected Spain, as well as areas of Portugal and smaller sections of France, on Monday afternoon. The event disrupted essential services and caused widespread disruption across the Iberian Peninsula.
Spanish and Portuguese officials are currently investigating the cause of the power outage.
Red Eléctrica, the electricity company, stated in a on Monday that they have activated the procedures in place for restoring the power supply. The immediate aim is to power the generating units, enabling them to start up and distribute power to the grid and other units.
In the meantime, residents are facing traffic congestion due to non-functional traffic lights, the closure of local grocery stores, and other inconveniences.
Spanish authorities have advised residents to avoid roads and only contact emergency services for critical situations. Similarly, Portuguese police have requested that people only travel when necessary, cautioning that street and traffic lights may be unstable.
“Something like this has never happened before,” Red Eléctrica stated. Eduardo Pietra, the director of operations for the electricity grid, added that there was “no record of the cause of the incident” and that the company could not “speculate about its origin.”
Red Eléctrica reported a drop in power around 12:30 p.m. local time. Although some power restoration began by 1:00 p.m. local time, electricity will be restored progressively. The company estimates that power will be fully restored across Spain between 9:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. However, power has already returned to some areas in the north, south, and west of the peninsula.
While hospitals will remain operational using generators, other sectors are still affected. Transportation has been temporarily halted at airports and train stations. Spanish train company Renfe stated in a that all trains are stopped and departures are canceled due to the national electricity grid failure. Portuguese airline TAP Air has asked its customers to avoid going to the airport as flights are suspended. Air Europa requested customers to be patient due to anticipated delays, stating in that they are offering flexible date changes to assist all passengers. Spain’s flagship airline, Iberia, that their systems were fully operational despite the outage, but they are allowing passengers to reschedule their trips given the problems reported at numerous airports.
Neither Renfe nor Red Eléctrica have responded to TIME’s request for comment.
The outage also led to the suspension of the international tennis tournament, the Madrid Open.
