Hours after a massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal, Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez says the cause is still being investigated
Earlier, the president of the European Council and the Portuguese prime minister said there was "no indication" of a cyber attack
In an update, Sánchez warns people to avoid speculation and says hospitals are functioning - he also says power has been restored to some areas in the north and south of Spain
People report driving to find open petrol stations, teaching in the dark - and trying to find beer pumps in Benidorm
In Portugal's capital Lisbon, our reporter says streets are "choked with traffic" and describes police officers using whistles and hand signals in place of traffic lights
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Watch: Traffic chaos as Spain and Portugal face power outages
The head of Spain’s electricity grid says restoring power could take hours.
Speaking at a news conference, Red Electrica CEO Eduardo Prieto tells reporters that the operation to solve the issue could take "between six and ten hours".
We'll bring you more on this as soon as we get it.
It's been more than two hours since a massive power cut left swathes of Spain and Portugal without power.
What we know so far
What we don't yet know
Image source, ReutersEarlier, the outage stopped play at the Madrid Open, with Britain's Jacob Fearnley among those forced off court
Image source, Getty ImagesWe've now heard from the mayor of Madrid, who's asking residents to stay put where possible.
"I ask all residents of Madrid to keep their movements to an absolute minimum and, if at all possible, to remain where they are. We want to keep all roads clear," José Luis Martínez-Almeida says in a video posted on social media.
Speaking from the integrated emergency security centre of Madrid he says that on top of traffic lights being off, tunnels of certain highways have had to be closed.
The mayor also asks residents to only call emergency services if it is "truly urgent": "If emergency calls go unanswered, go to the police and the fire stations in person, where they will try to deal with all the emergencies which may present themselves."
Joaquin Sorolla train station in Valencia, Spain, is full of passengers who are stranded after their trains were affected by the power outage.
Earlier, Spain's national railway company Renfe said the "entire National Electricity Grid" had been "cut off".
Image source, Reuters
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersHannah Lowney, who is from Manchester but lives in Madrid, says she was halfway through scanning her grocery shopping in Aldi when the power went out.
In a voice message to the BBC's Naga Munchetty, on Radio 5 Live, she explains:
"Looking out the window it seemed like it was the whole street [that lost power], and then the people in Aldi said it was a nationwide power cut.
"The traffic lights are out. People are coming out of their offices and walking home because they can’t tell when the buses are coming.
"It seems no one has an idea of when it will come back.
"It’s a bit disconcerting that it’s the whole country, I’ve never experienced this before."
Image source, ReutersMetro workers in Spain have barricaded stations and are telling members of the public to find alternative routes
Image source, ReutersPeople pictured on their phones at the Madrid Open tennis tournament, which was suspended due to the outage
Mobile phone networks have also been hit by the massive power cut.
Reporters for the AFP news agency in Madrid and Barcelona saw people heading into the streets, holding their smartphones up to try to connect to a network.
Many people used the radio, rather than their phones, to get updates, the news agency says.
Portuguese airline TAP Air has warned passengers not to head to airports until further notice.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the airline says some services are not operating as usual and asks passengers to await more information.
Parts of France temporarily lost power following the outages in Spain and Portugal, Reuters news agency reports, citing French grid operator RTE.
A spokeswoman for RTE gives no further detail on the extent of the outage, but says that power has now resumed after the brief interruption.
We're seeing some reports about Portuguese electricity distribution network, E-Redes, working on re-establishing power in phases.
However, their website has just gone down "for maintenance". We'll have more updates from Portugal as soon as we get them.
Image source, ReutersA closed metro station in Lisbon
Madrid's Metro says its service has been "interrupted" due to the power outage, in a post on X.
Images from this afternoon in the city, like the one below, show a barricaded station.
Several videos on social media appear to show passengers walking around dark subway stations in the city. We've teams working to verify the footage.
Image source, ReutersBlue tape cordoned off a Metro station in the city
Barbara Tasch
Live reporter
I've been speaking to Kirsty, a teacher in Madrid, who tells me that she - and many others - "don't know anything" about why the power in the city has gone out.
She says there have been mixed reports from Spanish media about the extent of the power cuts and no official communication from the government.
Kirsty, who teaches in an international school just outside the Spanish capital, says teachers at her school are now "wondering how we'll get home" following reports of traffic jams due to lights not working.
She also says pupils at her school are aware there’s a blackout but don’t know the extent of it as they can't access 5G on school premises and don't have access to Wi-Fi.
Kirsty says that the outage began affecting her school and the area it's in around 12:45 local time (11:45 BST), but "luckily" lunches had already been cooked for the children.
"There's zero electricity," she says, adding that there have been surges - meaning power has come back on - but only for a few seconds each time, nothing permanent.
We've just had this picture of queues at cash points in Lisbon, where card payments are not being accepted due to the power outage.
"It’s crazy, we were trying to pay for our brunch and it all shut down," says Emily Lansdown, who's in the city. "We’ve been trying to get a taxi to the beach because all the trains are down."
Image source, Emily LansdownWe're beginning to see the first images showing the effects of the power outage in Spain and Portugal.
In one, a chef uses his phone's torch to continue working, while a metro station in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon can be seen shuttered.
Meanwhile, people at the Madrid Open can be seen leaving the tournament in darkness. We reported earlier that play had been suspended due to the power issues.
Image source, ReutersA chef uses a torch to continue working at a restaurant in Madrid
Image source, ReutersSpectators at the Madrid Open are forced to leave under a veil of darkness
Image source, ReutersA closed metro station in Lisbon
Guy Hedgecoe
Reporting from Madrid
The power outage began soon after midday Spanish time and it appears to have affected cities across the country, although the Balearic and Canary Islands do not appear to have been affected.
Mainland Portugal and Andorra also saw a similar blackout.
Public transport has been disrupted, with passengers evacuated from trains and traffic lights also affected.
In Madrid, many businesses, shops and restaurants were plunged into darkness. Internet service was also affected.
Spanish grid operator Red Eléctrica has said it is working with energy companies to restore power.
In an update, Spanish power grid operator Red Electrica says it's beginning to recover power in the north and south of the country.
It says this is "key to gradually restoring the electricity supply".
"We continue working to restore power," it adds.
Earlier, the company confirmed the outages and said all its resources were being dedicated to solving the issue.
We're beginning to hear how the outage has affected Portugal, too.
According to the Reuters news agency, Portuguese police say traffic lights are affected across the country, the metro is closed in capital city Lisbon as well as Porto, and trains are not running.
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Play has been suspended at the Madrid Open - an annual clay tennis tournament - due to the power outage currently affecting the Spanish capital and surrounding region.
British tennis player Jacob Fearnley was forced to leave the court, PA media reports.
The loss of power affected scoreboards and a camera above the court, it adds.
Image source, ReutersOne of the courts was left almost entirely empty after the power outage forced play to be suspended
Spain's national railway company, Renfe, says the country's "entire National Electricity Grid was cut off" at 12:30 local time (11:30 BST).
"Trains stopped" and were "without departures" at all stations, the company says.
Spain's electricity grid operator Red Electrica has confirmed power outages across the country.
It is working to restore electricity supplies and says it's working to analyse the causes of the blackouts.
"All resources are being dedicated to solving it," it says in a post on X.