A major power outage is reported in Spain and Portugal, including their capitals

BARCELONA Spain AP A major power outage has been announced in Spain and Portugal including their capitals Spanish generator RedElectrica revealed Monday the Iberian peninsula was affected It noted the episode is being assessed and responded to It is rare to have such a widespread outage on the peninsula The countries have a combined population of over million people It was not this instant clear how countless people are affected Spain s masses broadcaster RTVE stated a major power outage hit several regions of the country at around p m local time leaving its newsroom Spain s parliament in Madrid and metro stations across the country in the dark People in neighborhood WhatsApp chats in Barcelona and outskirts cities and towns also informed the outage In Portugal a country of a few million people the outage hit the capital Lisbon and surrounding areas as well as northern and southern parts of the country Portuguese distributor E-Redes mentioned the outage was due to a complication with the European electricity system according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso The company declared it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the setup according to Expresso E-Redes revealed parts of France also were affected It was not workable to make calls on mobile phone networks though a few apps were working Unconfirmed news reports announced the Lisbon subway stopped running Traffic lights in the city center stopped working