Power is returning to much of Spain and Portugal this evening after a widespread blackout struck around midday, affecting businesses and homes throughout both countries as well as parts of southern France. The power cut halted transport services, shut down sections of industry, and left homes and public infrastructure without power for much of the afternoon.

Spain's Prime Minister declared a state of emergency as the scale of the disruption became clear. Urban centres including Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon experienced major outages, with metro systems halted and traffic signals disabled. Emergency services were deployed to assist stranded passengers and to maintain public safety amid the chaos.

Initial theories about the cause of the blackout spread quickly, ranging from cyber attack to equipment failure. Energy authorities later confirmed that the outage originated from a sudden, sharp drop in electricity supply that destabilised the grid connection between Spain and France. This is understood to have triggered automatic safety systems, cutting off parts of the network to prevent further damage.

By late evening, grid operators had restored power to nearly all affected regions. Investigations are ongoing, but early reports suggest the instability may have been linked to atmospheric conditions that impacted transmission infrastructure, rather than deliberate interference or structural failure.

The incident has sparked calls for a review of the interconnected European grid system and its resilience to sudden disruptions, particularly given the reliance on renewable and cross-border electricity supply.

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