MADRID Apr 28 (V7N) - A massive power outage struck significant portions of Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread disruption. Traffic was paralyzed, flights were grounded, people were trapped in elevators, and power operators were urgently working to restore electricity to millions of homes and businesses.

The scale of the outage is extremely unusual for Europe. While the exact cause was not immediately determined, officials initially stated that a possible cyber attack could not be ruled out, though later reports suggested a technical fault in the European interconnected grid or a rare atmospheric phenomenon as potential causes.

Reuters witnesses reported that power began to return to the Basque country and Barcelona areas of Spain in the early afternoon, several hours after the blackout commenced. The timeline for broader restoration remained unclear.

Hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia, Spain, suspended all routine medical procedures but continued to attend to critical patients using backup generators. Several Spanish oil refineries were shut down, and retail businesses closed their doors.

The Bank of Spain reported that electronic banking was functioning "adequately" on backup systems, although residents also noted that ATM screens were blank.

Barcelona resident and engineer Jose Maria Espejo, 40, recounted, "I'm in a data centre, and everything has gone off. All the alarms popped up, and now we're with the groups, waiting to find out what happened."

Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, in a video posted on X, urged city residents to minimize travel and stay where they were, emphasizing the necessity of clear passage for emergency services.

In Portugal, water supplier EPAL warned of potential disruptions to water supplies, and long queues formed at stores as people rushed to purchase emergency supplies such as gaslights, generators, and batteries.

The main Portuguese electricity utility, EDP, reportedly informed customers that it had no immediate forecast for when the energy supply would return to "normal," with Publico newspaper suggesting it could take several hours.

Parts of France also experienced a brief power outage. RTE, the French grid operator, stated that it had taken steps to supplement power to some areas of northern Spain following the incident.

Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended due to the power failure, forcing 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and his British opponent Jacob Fearnley off the court as scoreboards and overhead cameras went dark.

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