Spain power outage: Power begins to return in European hotspots but state of emergency still in place - latest updates

Airports, metros, and ATMs were shut down. Flights were grounded, metro systems halted, mobile communications failed, and ATMs went offline.

As of 6am Tuesday, over 99 per cent of power demand had been restored, according to Spain’s Red Eléctrica. Power has also been restored in parts of Portugal. Prime minister blamed his neighboring nation for the scenes, saying his government did not yet know what caused the cut, but that it “did not originate in Portugal”.

Madrid and Barcelona residents spent the night without electricity while iconic tourist sites like Sagrada Familia went dark. Thousands of stranded travellers slept in sports centres, airports, and metro stations.

People cheered and celebrated as power began returning to the parts of Spain and Portugal. In Spain, power started returning to the Basque country and Barcelona areas in the early afternoon, and to parts of capital Madrid on Monday night.

About 61 per cent of electricity had been restored by late Monday, according to the national grid operator. Enagas said it had activated emergency systems to meet demand during the blackout, while Prieto said returning systems to normal would take "several hours".

Power was also gradually returning to various municipalities in Portugal late on Monday, including Lisbon city centre. Grid operator REN said 85 out of 89 power substations were back online.