The story
Authorities in Spain and Portugal are trying to find out what caused a huge power cut in the countries earlier this week.
The power cut caused chaos across Portugal and Spain and also affected parts of Andorra and France.
Trains didn’t work, businesses had to close and mobile phone networks were also impacted.
Power has now been restored, but the disruption is thought to have cost up to €1.6bn to the Spanish economy.
News headlines
Spain slowly returning to normal after crippling blackout
Bloomberg
In the Madrid power cuts, I saw patience and common sense – but we were woefully unprepared
The Guardian
Spain’s electricity grid operator rules out cyber attack as cause of blackout
The Financial Times
Key words and phrases
blackout
a situation where there is no light, often because of a power cut
- The earthquake caused a complete blackout in the city.
woefully
extremely badly
- My teacher said my homework was woefully inadequate.
rule out
decide someone or something is no longer an option
- The CEO hasn’t ruled out redundancies this year, but we’re hoping there won’t be any.