The power outage caused major disruption (Image: Diego Radames/Anadolu via Getty Images)British holidaymakers are being alerted to updated travel guidance for Spain and Portugal after a large power outage on Monday caused chaos, leaving millions inconvenienced. The Foreign Office has advised travellers to be on the lookout of advice from local authorities due to the significant blackouts.
The official advice update states: “Power outages which affected Andorra, mainland Spain and mainland Portugal on Monday 28 April have largely been resolved but some disruption remains. We are monitoring the situation. There may still be some travel disruption, check with your tour operator or airline for more information before travelling. Follow the advice of the local authorities and monitor local updates.”
Britons are told: “Follow the advice of the local authorities and monitor local updates.” The advice, which remains in place at the time of writing on Tuesday, did not recommend against travelling to the countries or any of its islands which are popular with British tourists.
The blackout, impacting key urban centres including Madrid and Lisbon, threw public transport, communication networks and vital services into disarray, reports the Express.
The power failure also took a toll on water supply infrastructure when it occurred on Monday afternoon. The source of the outages is still under investigation with no conclusive cause yet determined.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has squashed suspicions of a cyber-attack, and Spain’s leader Pedro Sánchez has cautioned against speculation.
Spain remains in a state of emergency but has refuted claims that the blackouts were triggered by a “rare atmospheric phenomenon”. Spain’s national grid operator has confirmed that power has been almost entirely restored, with 99.16% of mainland power back on as of Tuesday morning.
In Portugal, the government has announced that all 6.4 million customers have had their power restored. Authorities have confirmed that all airports in Spain and Portugal are now operational.
The Madrid Open is set to resume after play was suspended on Monday due to the power cut, which also affected Andorra and parts of France. Following the power outage, the UK Home Secretary has discussed how the country is preparing for “different kinds of challenges and threats”.
When asked if the power cut had sparked fears that British infrastructure could be similarly affected, Yvette Cooper told Sky News that the UK maintains a “continued approach” to “resilience” and “security issues”.
She further added: “We’ve been looking, as part of wider security reviews across the country, how we deal with both resilience and also different kinds of challenges and threats.
“Some of which can be the traditional security challenges, some of which can be the kinds of resilience – things that we’re talking about in Spain and Portugal – and we obviously support them and the governments there in the work that they’re doing.”