When a massive blackout swept across parts of Spain, Portugal and southern France on Monday, millions had no electricity, internet or phone network. Among them was a family of an Indian father, his Malaysian wife, and their children in Portugal. They documented how they navigated 12 hours of complete disconnection after their fully electric home went dark.
In an Instagram post, the family shared photos and slides of their quiet evening indoors and outside. “Portugal without power for 12 hours. No internet, no phone network, no contact with the outside world. Our house runs on electricity so no cooking either,” read the post.
With no hot meals or screens to rely on, they made some simple tuna sandwiches and gathered around to play Bananagrams – a game similar to Scrabble but without a board – lit only by candles and leftover Christmas lights.
“For the first time in a while, I didn’t have to ask anyone to turn off their devices. It was liberating,” the post read.
Later, they stepped out into the pitch-black streets, where silence was broken only by nature. They strolled under starlit skies, watched fireflies, and for a few hours, embraced a world unconnected.
“Portugal without electricity sent us back to the cave ages, which to be honest, I didn’t mind,” the father wrote. “For a brief moment, when the whole region was in somewhat of a panic mode, my first thought was: ‘My kids are not going to have internet tonight’,” the post read, followed by a celebration emoji.
“I might have enjoyed it a little more than I expected,” the post concluded.
The blackout, which disrupted life across major cities like Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona, also brought transport and air traffic to a halt. Authorities in both Spain and Portugal declared emergencies as they worked to restore services and investigate the cause.
Preliminary findings suggested the outage was triggered by a rare atmospheric phenomenon causing “anomalous oscillations” in high-voltage lines due to extreme temperature shifts in Spain. These fluctuations disrupted the synchronisation of the European power grid.