Spain has declared a state of emergency after it and neighbouring Portugal were brought to a standstill by major power outages, which hit vast areas across the two countries, with power operators scrambling to restore power to millions of homes and businesses.
Traffic was gridlocked, flights grounded and trains suspended while people were trapped in elevators and left without water supplies. Whole cities were cut off with mobile networks, Wi-Fi, ATMs and card machines inoperative during the disruption, which began around 12.30pm on Monday.
