Large parts of Spain and Portugal, and some parts of France, were hit by a massive power outage on Monday, leaving millions of citizens without electricity. The incident has sparked a widespread discussion on social media, with a video capturing the exact moment the power went off.
The video, which is now viral on social media, is shot at the venue of the Madrid Open tennis tournament. A reporter is seen taking an interview of American tennis player Coco Gauff, where the athlete describes her experience ahead of the match.
Gauff was talking about her match day on the mic when suddenly the sound completely cut off, thanks to the power failure. As soon as she realises the situation, the tennis player is seen laughing.
Other videos of the incident show people walking through a subway with their mobile torches on as the Spain and Portugal power outage continues.
Another horrific video shows an escalator malfuncuting, causing several people to fall one after another.
Spain and Portugal were hit by a widespread power blackout on Monday thatcaused disruptions across the two countries. The power outage paralysed public transport, caused large traffic jams and delayed airline flights, and utility operators were scrambling to restore the grid.
Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended, forcing 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and British opponent Jacob Fearnley off the court as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power.
The Spanish and Portuguese governments convened emergency cabinet meetings after the outage, which also briefly affected a part of France, which borders northeastern Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited electricity transmission operator Red Eléctrica's control centre.
Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica said that restoring power to large parts of the country after a massive and unprecedented outage Monday that also hit Portugal could take 6-10 hours.
The outage knocked out subway networks, phone lines, traffic lights and ATM machines.
Authorities said the cause was not immediately known, though one Portuguese official said the problem appeared to be with the electricity distribution network in Spain.
A graph on Spain’s electricity network website showing demand across the country indicated a steep drop around 12:15 p.m. from 27,500MW to near 15,000MW.
Portugal’s E-Redes said parts of France also were affected.
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