Red Eléctrica, the operator of the national power grid in Spain, reports that the ongoing power outage seen in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France is “exceptional and extraordinary” with full restoration expected to take between 6-10 hours. Adding that they will not speculate at this time into the cause of the outage, though an investigation is ongoing. Residents in Spain, Portugal, France, and Belgium report major outages. Airports and subways shut down, communication networks hit. Madrid's Barajas Airport is out of service, El Mundo reports. No official cause confirmed yet. Chaos unfolds. What started as a blackout in Spain and Portugal just got bigger — now parts of France, Belgium, and even tiny Andorra are getting hit too. Trains stopped, traffic lights failed, and phones cut out — causing plenty of real-world panic.
The cause? Still unclear. Some say it’s a European grid fail, others blame a fire in southern France that fried a major power line.