A sweeping power outage across Spain plunged the nation into chaos on Monday, triggering widespread panic as citizens desperately sought cash from ATMs and thronged the streets in a futile attempt to secure mobile phone signals.
Carlos Condori, one of the millions impacted across Spain and Portugal, experienced the sudden disruption firsthand while travelling on the Madrid metro.
“The lights went out, and the train stopped,” recounted the 19-year-old construction worker, noting the train eventually limped into the station. “People were stunned because this had never happened in Spain,” he continued, highlighting the unprecedented nature of the blackout. “There’s no phone coverage, I can’t call my family, my parents—nothing. I can’t even go to work.”
In Madrid’s bustling Cibeles Square, the failure of traffic lights unleashed a cacophony of sirens, whistles, and blaring car horns as police struggled to manage the ensuing traffic gridlock. Bewildered office workers stood idly in the streets, their computers rendered useless without internet connectivity, while others expressed relief at narrowly avoiding being trapped in elevators.
Marina Sierra, a disoriented 16-year-old student attempting to contact her father, was desperately seeking a way home after her school was abruptly closed. “The building we were in was giving off smoke, so they had to evacuate us quickly… I’m shocked because everything is totally out of control,” she stated, conveying the widespread sense of disarray.
Transport systems in Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, also descended into chaos as locals and tourists flooded the streets, desperately seeking information amidst the uncertainty. Laia Montserrat, a student living an hour outside Barcelona, found herself stranded when the blackout struck her school mid-presentation. “As the internet wasn’t coming back, they told us to go home, but there were no trains either,” Laia explained. “Now we don’t know what to do.”
Leonor Abecasis, a 27-year-old consultant visiting Barcelona from Portugal, was caught off guard while shopping when the power failed. “We’re waiting for the electricity to come back,” she said, admitting to being “a little” worried about her scheduled return flight to Lisbon later that day.
Amidst the widespread confusion and mounting anxiety, Pilar Lopez, a 53-year-old higher education administrator in Madrid, attempted to offer a sense of perspective to her panicked colleagues, who were fretting over the food in their now-powerless freezers. “We’ve suffered a pandemic; I don’t think this is worse,” Lopez reasoned. “It’s like anything— you get used to it and start to think that this isn’t the end of the world.”
For Lopez, the extensive disruption served as a stark reminder of modern society’s over-reliance on electricity. “Maybe we should go back to basics and not depend so much on electricity for certain things,” she suggested. Highlighting the immediate impact on everyday transactions, she added, “I can’t even pay because my mobile isn’t working. Sometimes you have to be a bit more analogue; this proves it.”
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