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one honk maybe more

benjojo posted 28 Apr 2025 14:24 +0000

One of the most "benidorm brit" possible things to complain about when a area of 60M people had their grid desync and collapse

BBC news "Power cut chaos in Spain and Portugal" --- Live Reporting By Owen Amos, Sam Hancock, and Emily McGarvey European Commission in touch with local authorities to establish cause of outagepublished at 15:20 15:20 The European Commission says it is "in contact" with Spanish and Portuguese authorities "to understand the underlying cause" of today's blackout. "The commission will keep monitoring the situation and make sure that there is smooth information exchange," a spokesperson for the EU's executive arm says. Antonio Costa, a former Portuguese premier who heads the European Council of EU member states, is also in contact with the Spanish and Portuguese leaders, EU officials add. Dark metro tunnel in LisbonImage source, Getty Images Image caption, Images of metro stations in darkness are circulating online Restoring power across Portugal 'could take up to a week'published at 15:12 15:12Breaking Some final remarks from Portugal's power firm REN, which goes on on to say that, "due to the complexity of the phenomenon and the need to rebalance electricity flows internationally, it is estimated that full normalisation of the network could take up to a week". Earlier, the head of Spain's electricity network said that restoring power could take between six and 10 hours. 'Extreme temperature variations in Spain' contributed to outage - Portuguese grid officialspublished at 15:10 15:10 We have a bit more for you now from the Portuguese energy company REN (Rede Eletrica Nacional). It says that "due to extreme temperature variations in the interior or Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400 KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'". As we said in our last post, Spain is yet to respond to these claims. Portugal blames outage on 'fault in Spain's electricity grid'published at 15:07 15:07Breaking We're now hearing from Portugal's grid operator, REN, which says interruptions to the country's power supply were the result of a "fault in the Spanish electricity grid. They say this was related to a "rare atmospheric phenomenon", but don't clarify what that means. Spain is yet to respond to the claim. We'll bring you more on this in our next few posts. Customers had to leave mid-haircut, says Lisbon residentpublished at 15:04 15:04 Holly Wallis Live reporter Will David, 40, a Briton living in Lisbon, says he was having a haircut and beard trim in the basement of a barbers in Lisbon when the power went down. "Customers needing electric razors had to leave in various states of haircut and shave completion," says Will. Rita, the barber, kindly found him a spot by the window upstairs to finish the cut with scissors and left Will looking "halfway presentable". "The walk home felt very strange, both with the lack of traffic lights meaning a complete free-for-all for vehicles and pedestrians on the roads - as well as so many people milling around outside their places of work with nothing to do." People queuing for a bus in Lisbon earlier - trains and trams went down in the power cutsImage source, Getty Images Image caption, People queuing for a bus in Lisbon earlier - trains and trams went down in the power cuts Some phone signal returns - but other problems remainpublished at 14:57 14:57 Josh Parry LGBT and identity reporter Curtis Gladden, 29, is originally from Liverpool but recently moved to in La Vall D’Uixo, about 30 miles from Valencia. He tells BBC News his phone signal hadn’t worked for around two hours, which he says was "scary" as he struggled to get updates about what was happening. Now the signal has returned, he and other locals are using the time without electricity to get outside and enjoy a drink in the town’s pavement cafes. It’s a local holiday in some parts of Spain, known as Saint Vincent Ferrer’s day. Curtis and his partner Miguel were hoping to join in the festivities but say they are "uncertain" whether they’ll take place. He says: "Nothing is working; we came to get some food and a drink but they can’t cook without electricity. There’s supposed to be a festival today but we’re not sure if it will happen now." Tables in La Vall D’Uixo Image caption, Residents in La Vall D’Uixo are taking the chance to have a drink outside during the power outage In London, Gatwick reports delayed flights to affected areaspublished at 14:57 14:57 Molly Stazicker Transport reporter A shot from outside Gatwick departuresImage source, Reuters In our last post, we brought you an update from some of the affected airports across Spain and Portugal. Now Gatwick, in London, has also reported issues - telling the BBC it's experiencing short delays on flights to Spain and Portugal. The airport says there have so far been no cancellations and it's waiting for the issues to be resolved. Meanwhile, airline Ryanair says it's monitoring potential disruptions to flights operating to and from all airports in mainland Spain and Portugal. Delays at Spanish and Portuguese airportspublished at 14:53 14:53 Let's have a quick look now at the situation at airports. Madrid's international airport - Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas - and Barcelona's Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Pratairport currently have notices saying "some incidents are occurring" as a result of the outage. The airports add that contingency generators are active, but warn anyone travelling to check with airlines as disruptions may affect access and ground transportation. Lisbon and Porto airports similarly warn that "operation constraints" may occur. Portuguese news agency Lusa is reporting that airport operator Ana has activated emergency generators - enabling essential operations to continue in Porto and Faro, but Lisbon is seeing further limitations. Looking at departure boards, airports including Madrid, Barcelona and Porto are seeing delays. I'm teaching in the dark, says Lisbon-based teacherpublished at 14:49 14:49 Bernadette McCague BBC News Emily Thorowgood, who's from Bristol but who works as a teacher in an international school in Lisbon, has told the BBC she is currently "teaching in the dark" after the power went off at around noon local time. "Lots of parents are taking their children out due to the power cuts," she says. "It was flashing on and off for a long while but seems to have finally given up." A queue at a cash machine in Lisbon earlier - card payments are down across the cityImage source, Getty Images Image caption, A queue at a cash machine in Lisbon earlier - card payments are down across the city 'My husband is driving around, trying to find an open petrol station'published at 14:45 14:45 Bernadette McCague BBC News A closed pump in Castellon, north-east SpainImage source, EPA Image caption, A closed pump in Castellon, north-east Spain Lesley has lived in Spain for 11 years with her husband. The couple are currently based in Murcia, Spain. "There's very little news about what's happened," she tells the BBC. "We are worried about food, water, cash and petrol in case this goes on for a couple of days." She says there's "more to worry about" than the Madrid Open tennis tournament being suspended. "My husband is driving around now trying to find a petrol station that's open to get petrol for the generator so that we can plug in the fridge." Spanish PM hosting national security meetingpublished at 14:39 14:39Breaking Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wears an earpiece and a suitImage source, EPA Pedro Sanchez is currently hosting an "extraordinary" meeting of Spain's national security council, the prime minister's press office says in a statement on social media, external. We're yet to hear an update from the meeting, but when we do we'll let you know. The view from Benidorm: 'If you haven't got a drink, you're out of luck'published at 14:32 14:32 James Kelly BBC News In the Spanish resort of Benidorm, Mark England tells us how the lack of power has disrupted his holiday. He says he and his partner Jonnie had gone for lunch when the lights in the dining room started to go off.