Power returns to most of Spain, Portugal after massive blackout

Lights flickered back to life in Spain and Portugal on Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the Iberian peninsula stranding passengers in trains and hundreds of elevators while millions saw phone and internet coverage die.

Electricity had been restored to more than 90 per cent of mainland Spain early on Tuesday, the REE power operator said. Lights came on again in Madrid and in Portugal’s capital.

Barely a corner of the peninsula, which has a joint population of almost 60 million people, escaped the blackout.