Portugal and Spain power outage: Perth man Stephen Anderson caught up in travel chaos

A Perth man holidaying in Lisbon has described the confusion and disruption after a massive power outage plunged Portugal and Spain into darkness on Monday.

Stephen Anderson was making his way to the check-in desk at Lisbon Airport for his return flight to WA when the lights suddenly went out.

“All computer systems are still down, so no security or x-ray machines working, baggage is down, and they can’t give us any information as to what will happen,” Mr Anderson told PerthNow as the blackout unfolded.

Airport staff informed passengers that no flights would be taking off. However, without official cancellations from the airlines, travellers like Mr Anderson were left stranded in limbo.

“Airport staff have said there will be no flight, but the airlines aren’t telling us what to do. The airport staff gave us a number to call but as the flight hasn’t officially been cancelled I’m in no man’s land at the moment,” Mr Anderson said.

Phone lines also went down, making it nearly impossible to contact hotels or rebook travel.

Adding to the chaos, police began clearing the airport and advising passengers not to expect re-entry if they left.

“No food left in the airport, even the ice cream shop has been emptied! Can’t contact any hotels as the phone lines are down. Police surrounding the airport so if you leave you won’t get back in,” Mr Anderson said.

Partial power was restored several hours later via backup generators, but key systems remained offline until Tuesday.

Mr Anderson managed to reschedule his flight for 9.15pm on Tuesday but with hotels in Lisbon fully booked, he has been forced to wait it out inside the airport.

“Majority of people are sleeping all over the floors of the airport,” he added.

The blackout, which began around 10.30 GMT time on Monday, crippled hospitals, transport systems, businesses, homes, and major infrastructure across the Iberian Peninsula. A state of emergency was declared as authorities scrambled to restore services.

Initial speculation pointed to a cyberattack, but Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro later attributed the event to a rare atmospheric phenomenon that caused a sudden, massive drop in power supply across the region.

By Tuesday, power had been restored to about 90 per cent of mainland Spain and 6.2 million of Portugal’s 6.5 million households.