THE whole of Spain and large parts of Portugal have been hit by a massive power cut causing chaos in scores of cities.
Reports suggest the national blackout hit at 12.30pm on Monday, including Spain and Portugal's capitals.
Madrid, Malaga, Seville, Badajoz, and other cities are said to be impacted, according to reports.
Politico Europe reports that Spain's grid operator said it was working to restore power on the Iberian peninsula.
"Plans activated to restore electricity supply in collaboration with sector companies following the blackout that occurred in the peninsular system," RedEléctrica said on social media.
"The causes are being analyzed, and all resources are being dedicated to resolving it.
"We will keep you informed."
The grid operator later updated to say they had begun to "restore power in the north and south of the peninsula, which is key to gradually meeting the electricity supply."
"This process involves the gradual energization of the transmission grid as the generating units are connected," they added.
"We continue working to restore power."
It is rare to have such a widespread outage on the peninsula.
The countries have a combined population of more than 50 million people.
It was not immediately clear how many people are affected.
Transport shut down
Reports suggest metro services in Barcelona have been without service, while the metro in Valencia has had to shut down the entire network.
Spanish newspaper El Pais reports that ADIF, Spain's state-owned railway infrastructure manager, and Renfe, the state-owned railway company, are attempting to locate passengers who may be trapped on trains in the tunnels under Madrid.
The newspaper also suggests hundreds of passengers are stuck on trains across the country.
Traffic lights are also said to have stopped working, causing travel chaos in Spain. Drivers have been urged not to travel unless it is necessary.
Meanwhile, Portuguese police say traffic lights and trains have also been impacted across the country.
Reuters reports that in the capital city, Lisbon, the metro is closed, as well as in Porto, and trains are not running.
As well as the capital, the power cut is reported to have hit surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts of the country.
Portugal is home to 10.6 million people.
Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the outage was due to “a problem with the European electricity system”, according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso.
The company said it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilise the network, according to Expresso.
E-Redes said parts of France also were affected.
It was not possible to make calls on mobile phone networks, though some apps were working.
Hospitals and hospitality
Images of blacked-out restaurants and shops in Spain are beginning to emerge
Reports suggest that residents cannot use card transactions due to the power outage, leaving a surge in demand for cash withdrawals.
The Madrid Open has also been cancelled with revellers pictured leaving the stadium.
After the scoreboards and camera above the court lost power, Britain's Jacob Fearnley was forced to stop his match.
El Pais reports that hospitals are operating normally thanks to generators, but medics are struggling without access to computers and medical records.
What caused the outage?
No official confirmation of the cause behind the widespread outage has been made.
The president of the Andalusian regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno, has claimed that "everything points to a cyber attack".
However, he admitted he had not had official confirmation on this from the Spanish Government, and was basing the assertion on local data.
Portuguese energy company REN (Rede Eletrica Nacional) claimed the outage was "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'".
"These oscillations caused synchronisation failures between the electrical systems, leading to successive disturbances across the interconnected European network," the said.
The Spanish Government, who has not responded to the Portuguese claims, has convened an emergency cabinet at RedElectrica's headquarters.
President Pedro Sánchez, María Jesús Montero, the First Vice President and minister of finance, Sara Aagesen, environment minister, and transport minister Óscar Puente in attendance.
