State of emergency declared in Spain following power outage

Power outages continue in Spain and Portugal. The Spanish Ministry of the Interior has announced that a state of emergency has been declared following a power outage that affected a large part of the country.

The Ministry stated that the state of emergency status will be implemented in regions that request it. So far, Madrid, Andalusia, and Extremadura have asked the central government to take over public order and other functions due to the outages.

Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica stated that electricity has begun to be restored to some parts of Catalonia, Aragon, the Basque Country, Galicia, Asturias, Navarre, Castile and Leon, Extremadura, Andalusia, and La Rioja, adding that power will be provided to other regions gradually.

NUCLEAR REACTORS ARE SAFE

The Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) stated that the nuclear reactors in Spain are in a "safe condition" following the power outages, noting that the reactors automatically shut down after the outage and emergency generators were activated.

CAUSE OF THE OUTAGE STILL UNKNOWN

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated in a press conference that the cause of the power outage is still unknown and warned the public against speculation. Sanchez stated that thanks to assistance from France and Morocco, electricity has been restored to some regions in the north and south of Spain, and called on the public to rely only on statements made by official channels. Asking the public to use their phones "responsibly," Sanchez said that the current situation is a critical moment for the country's telecommunications services. Sanchez requested that people use their phones only for short calls and necessary communication while the system is being fully restored.

Stating that the presence of security forces on the streets will increase, Sanchez said that the outages have not caused any security problems across the country so far. Sanchez reported that hospitals continue to accept patients, no incidents have been reported at ports, air traffic has been reduced, and train traffic has been halted for safety reasons.

PORTUGAL AND FRANCE ALSO AFFECTED BY THE OUTAGE

In Portugal, traffic lights across the country were affected by the outage, and the metro systems in the capital Lisbon and Porto were closed. While card payments could not be made in Lisbon, Portuguese airlines called on passengers with flights not to travel to airports. Portuguese airline TAP Air warned passengers not to go to airports until further notice.

Short-term power outages occurred in some parts of France. French power grid operator RTE announced that there were temporary power outages in some parts of France following the outages in Spain and Portugal, without providing details on the scale of the outage. In the statement by RTE, it was noted that electricity was restored in France after the short-term outage.