• A widespread blackout hit Spain and Portugal on April 28, affecting millions.
• Power began to be restored by the next day, with 99% of energy demand met in Spain.
• Authorities are investigating the cause, ruling out a cyberattack while considering extreme weather events.
• Train and transport services were severely disrupted, trapping hundreds of people.
• Emergency meetings convened to prevent future outages.

A massive power outage struck Spain and Portugal around midday on April 28, leaving millions without electricity and causing significant disruptions to critical services like transportation and communication. The blackout began at approximately 12:30 PM local time, affecting airports, metro systems, and ATM services across the Iberian Peninsula, which has a combined population of around 60 million, according to aa, channelnewsasia, and indiatimes.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the incident as an unprecedented "complete collapse of the system," with a staggering loss of approximately 15 gigawatts—equivalent to 60% of the country's electricity demand—within just five seconds. Early estimates indicated that the outage severely paralyzed transport systems, stranded passengers in trains, and disrupted mobile networks nationwide, according to indiatimes, channelnewsasia, and nytimes.

By April 29, power restoration efforts had progressed significantly, achieving over 99% recovery of electricity demand by 7 AM. Both Spain's grid operator, Red Eléctrica, and Portugal's REN confirmed that all substations were back online, restoring service to all affected customers, as reported by aa, dawn, and reuters.

While states of emergency were declared in several regions, examinations into the cause of the blackout began immediately. Authorities ruled out a cyberattack as a cause, with investigations focusing on possible human error or technical failures, as well as a "rare atmospheric phenomenon" possibly affecting the grid, according to aljazeera, bbc, and latimes.

As normalcy began to return, with metro services resuming and essential operations re-opening, Spanish and Portuguese governments continued their investigations into this significant outage to ensure future grid stability. Emergency meetings were held involving key government ministries and energy agencies to establish preventive measures, as detailed in reports from nytimes and reuters.