Spain declares state of emergency as power blackout chaos continues | BBC News

Spain has declared a state of emergency as chaos continues following the mass power cuts that hit the country along with neighbouring Portugal. Parts of south-west France were also affected.

Trains stopped, planes were grounded, traffic lights failed with mass traffic jams. Shops and businesses closed as they were unable to trade and mobile phone networks went down. Major cities including Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon were badly affected.

The cause of the massive power failures remain unclear, with some suggesting a cyber attack while other said the complexity of modern electricity networks meant a mass technical system failure was possible. The Portuguese governement said atmospheric conditions were responsible. The threat posed to electrical systems by big variations in atmospheric temperature are well known, although if it is rare to see problems on this scale.

Ben Brown presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Ellie Price, Daniel Sandford and Nick Beake.

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