Massive power outage in Spain and Portugal leaves thousands stranded and millions without light

Emergency services and rail workers in Spain had to help evacuate some 35,000 people from over 100 trains that stopped on the tracks when the electricity was cut. By 11 p.m. passengers from 11 trains still needed evacuating, Sánchez said.

Hospitals and other emergency services switched to generators and gas stations stopped working. It wasn’t possible to make calls on most mobile phone networks, though some apps were sporadically working. People searched for battery-powered radios.

Some early analysis points to reduction in frequency that led to cascading events caused by power system dynamics that have been observed on systems with low system inertia.