An unprecedented and unprecedented power cut on Monday reached large parts of Spain, as well as Portugal. The Spanish Energy Distributor Red Electrica said that restoring power to the country could take up to 10 hours.
The interruption reached the capitals of both countries and eliminated subway networks, telephone lines, traffic lights and ATMs.
Electric Red declined specular about the causes of the blackout. The National Portuguese Cybersecurity Center issued a statement by saying that there were no signs that the interruption was due to a cyber attack.
Eduardo Prieto, chief of electrical network operations, told reporters that he had no precedents, calling the “exceptional and extraordinary” event.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, tries to an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council of Spain and visited Red Electric to follow efforts to restore network operations. The Portuguese Cabinet Convent an emergency meeting at the Residence of the Prime Minister.
Countries have a combined population or around 50 million people. It was not clear immediately how many were affected. It is strange to have such a wide interruption through the Iberian Peninsula.
The Operator of the Electric Red of Spain said that the energy in the north and south of the Peninsula was recovering, which would help progressively restore the supply of electricity throughout the country.
The Portugal government said the interruption seemed to come from problems outside the country, an official told the National Portuguese news agency.
“It seems that it was a problem with the distribution network, equipped in Spain. It is still being determined,” said Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro.
The public broadcaster of Spain, RTVE, said that a large blackout reached several regions of the country just after the local noon, leaving its writing room, the Parliament of Spain in Madrid and the subway stations throughout the country in the dark.
Playing in the Open Madrid tennis tournament was suspended. Three games were being underway when power was reduced.
Javier Soriano/AFP through Getty Images 
People in the WhatsApp Chats neighborhood in Barcelona and their outskirts cities and towns also reported the interruption.
In Portugal, a country of about 10.6 million people, the interruption reached the capital, Lisbon and the surrounding areas, as well as in parts of the north and south of the country.
The Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the interruption was due to “a problem with the European Electricity System”, according to the Portuguese newspaper Expresso.
The company said it was obliged to reduce energy in specific areas to stabilize the network, according to expresso.
E-Rees said that parts of France were also affected.
It was not possible to make calls in mobile phone networks, he thought that some applications were working.
The Spanish radio stations reported that part of Madrid was being evacuated, according to the Reuters news agency.
The unconfirmed news reports also said that the Lisbon Metro stopped working. The traffic lights in the city center stopped working.