Map shows cities hit by power outage across Spain and Portugal

A major power cut across Spain, Portugal and beyond continues to cause chaos.

Traffic lights switched off, trains stopped and airports went dark in several cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville in Spain and Lisbon, Santarém and Porto in Portugal, following the outage around midday today.

Power cuts were also reported in Andorra and the Basque region of France.

Our map shows some of the areas affected.

Portuguese grid operator Ren said the power outage was down to a ‘rare atmospheric phenomenon’ that affected the Spanish electricity grid.

Power appears to have returned for some, including Barcelona and Lisbon airports, which both saw outages, while others are still waiting.

Footage was shared of the moment the Madrid Open tennis tournament was cut off from power earlier this afternoon and matches suspended.

Coco Gauff, the former US Open winner, was being interviewed about her match when the sound cut out of the microphone.

Videos also showed cars jostling at junctions as there were no lights working to control traffic.

Some people say they have no running water and that people are panic buying water in shops.

The government of Andalucia – the region in the south of Spain which includes cities like Seville – were among those initiating an emergency plan.

They advised people against inessential travel in a post on social media.

Portugal’s government previously said the incident appeared to stem from problems outside the country, an official told national news agency Lusa.

A traveller at Lisbon airport told Sky News passengers have been asked to leave: ‘It’s horrendous… the airport has done nothing to help anyone and has now just put an announcement out to say all passengers must leave the airport and contact their airline provider.’

Aena, which runs international airports across Spain including Barajas in Madrid, the busiest airport in Spain, said in a statement: ‘Due to the power outage, some incidents are occurring at the airports.

‘Contingency generators are active. Please check with your airline, as there may be disruptions to access and ground transportation.’

Air traffic was cut to Air traffic to ‘half capacity’ at many airports, with several flights cancelled.

Spain’ traffic authority DGT, meanwhile, has warned people not to use their cars.

One woman from West London, Maddie Sephton, was on the Madrid Metro when the power cut happened.

‘We got on the train and everything was fine,’ she told Sky News. 

‘But then everything went dark.’

She said she and her fellow passengers werestuck on the train for 20 minutes until a staff member opened the doors manually.

They then had to climb fifteen flights of stairs which she said was obviously difficult for those with mobility issues.

Ms Sephton said ATM systems weren’t working and she only had 15 Euros on her.

Some hospitals have cancelled surgeries for safety reasons

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