Spellbinding Darkness in Spain and Portugal: An Insight into 12 Hours of Power Outage
A sudden, nationwide power outage plunged Spain into darkness on a sunny afternoon in east Madrid, leaving cars bumper-to-bumper as traffic lights fell silent. "It was like a jungle out there," recalled Luis Ibañez Jimeñez, a resident of the capital who, just moments before, had witnessed the entire country's electrical supply vanish.
The sudden blackout, which occurred on 28 April 2025 at 12:33 CEST, left Spain, Portugal, and parts of southwestern France in the dark. The suspicions began to swirl around potential causes: hacking from Russia, an act of terrorism, or even a Europe-wide power failure. The exact reason, however, remained elusive and unexplained in the days that followed.
Preliminary reports hinted at "anomalous oscillations" in high-voltage power lines, possibly stemming from extreme temperature variations and dubbed as a rare "induced atmospheric vibration." Other theories circulated, including a fire damaging a high-voltage cable in France, though no firm evidence supported any of them.
Amid the chaos, people scrambled for essentials as supermarkets closed and card payment terminals shut down. Madrid's emergency services found themselves hard at work, rescuing stranded individuals and intervening in multiple elevator malfunctions.
The government declared states of emergency in regions like Madrid and Andalusia, while telecommunications networks struggled with the strain, leading to communication breakdowns that complicated crisis coordination. Transport chaos ensued as trains came to a halt mid-journey, prompting evacuations from metro tunnels in Madrid and Lisbon, and flights were grounded at Barajas Airport.
With strong government appeals to use phones responsibly and conserve resources, camaraderie came to the fore, as strangers banded together, sharing resources, and making new connections in the eerie glow of candlelight. "The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze," one witness remarked, echoing the sense of unity that emerged from the strange, shared experience.
CNN's Eve Brennan and Gerardo Lemos contributed reporting.
- Luis Ibañez Jimeñez, recalling the unexpected event, described the chaotic scene as "it was like a jungle out there."
- The unforeseen blackout on 28 April 2025 at 12:33 CEST had vast consequences, extending its impact to Portugal and some parts of southwestern France.
- In the initial reports, one possible explanation for the power outage was identified as "anomalous oscillations" in high-voltage power lines, possibly due to extreme temperature variations.
- As the nation grappled with the catastrophic event, instances of car-accidents and crime-and-justice increased, given the lack of car-parking terraces' lighting and the general-news' chaos, implying that a sense of vocational responsibility and shared awareness were crucial to navigating these challenges.
