People queue in the streets of Madrid to buy radios or take the bus, while the power cut forces the metros and supermarkets to close.
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00:00In Madrid, people filled the streets searching for ways to communicate and buy essentials after a sudden blackout swept across Spain and Portugal on Monday.
00:16Musician Biciente Navarro quickly realized that radios and batteries were the only tools left to stay connected.
00:23The blackout, one of the worst in years, left over half of Spain's electricity supply lost in seconds.
00:30While Sampa returned by nightfall, chaos remained.
00:34Prime Ministers of Spain and Portugal urged calm, warning against misinformation as investigators searched for the cause with no signs of a cyber attack.
00:4419-year-old Carlos Gondori was trapped in Madrid's metro, unable to call his family or reach work.
00:51Shop assistant, Esther Lavados, waited anxiously in Colón Square, unable to contact her family but hopeful they wouldn't panic.
01:00Yes, I am right now in Colón. I'm from Móstoles. I don't know how to come back. I'm waiting here.
01:07And a little more because I couldn't contact my family. So, while they don't panic, I don't.
01:14Emergency teams freed hundreds from elevators. Lawyer Ricardo shared how he got stuck in a lift and was evacuated as a safety precaution.
01:25Listening to the radio, he learned the blackout also affected France and Portugal, advising everyone to stay calm until real news arrived.
01:33Well, with Eurikos, we didn't know what to do at first. In fact, I was just sitting on a climb, the climb left, and we were just starting to stay calm.
01:41We're just starting to stay calm and we thought we could do something related to that.
01:45Then they told us that it was the explosion, and at the time they told us that we had to evacuate.
01:50I understand that as a measure of safety, the air does not work, there is no light, and well, it is better to go.
01:56I was reading a little of the news, reading some radio, I understand that there is a explosion in France, in Portugal, here.
02:04The truth is that that generates a little uncertainty, but while we do not know the real news and with certainty of what happens,
02:12we have to be calm, there is no other.
02:14With card payments failing, lawyer Laura Vassallo rushed to withdraw cash to buy food, unsure of what lay ahead.
02:22I am trying to get a little money, because as we do not have light, the cards do not work, and I do not know what will happen.
02:28So, to buy something, food, market, anything, I am better, I am a little sure to have money.
02:35In the darkened city, Vicente Navarro searched for radios, batteries and candles.
02:42I don't know, just thinking about how to communicate and looking for media, I thought that the radio was the only thing that could be maintained.
02:50And then the lights, and then the lights.
02:52Even though the lights, let's see where the home pro is.
02:54Window dresser, Ivan Anton, queued outside the supermarket that, thanks to a generator, still accepted card payments.
03:02And in the restaurant restaurant, they told us that in this supermarket they just had a generator.
03:08So, we came practically to buy something to be able to eat.
03:13And we have no money.
03:14We have no money.
03:15We have no money.
03:16We have no money.
03:17And they told us that here, if you can pay with a card, because the data forms are still working.
03:20The hospitals ran on backup power, flights were delayed and internet connections collapsed.
03:31Support poured in from across Europe, with Ukraine offering expertise in handling major power grid disruptions.