The Moncloa does not rule out any hypothesis and is investigating the "sudden" power outage.

Barcelona"Critical hours" are coming until the full power supply is restored. This was stated by Spanish President Pedro Sánchez in an appearance after meeting with the National Security Council following the the general drop in electricity throughout the Iberian Peninsula, which has disrupted the agendas of the Spanish and Catalan governments, which were convened in emergency meetings throughout the day. Just after 11 p.m., the Spanish Prime Minister reported that almost 50% of the electricity supply had been restored, but admitted that he could not clarify either the causes of the outage or when things would return to normal.

In any case, Sánchez did say that the causes of an exceptional event, one that had "never" happened before, are being investigated: that at 12:33 p.m., in just five seconds, 15 GW were "suddenly" consumed, the equivalent of 60% of the entire state's demand. "What caused it is something that the specialists haven't been able to discover yet, but they will," he said, stressing that "no hypothesis has been ruled out." "It will be a long night," added the head of the Spanish government, who appeared at 11 p.m. more than an hour and a half late.

The message, from then on, has been one of prescribing calm. "The government will work to understand the cause, but now the priority is to work to return to normality," the Spanish president assured. However, for the People's Party (PP), the Moncloa has not managed the situation adequately. The PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, lamented that the Spanish government has left citizens and the autonomous communities with an "unprecedented lack of information."

In any case, Sánchez assured that Spain "has mechanisms" to address the situation, although he also called for "responsibility and civility." "We must use cell phones responsibly. Make short calls and only call 112 if necessary," he said, and called for restrictions on travel and calls.

The head of the Spanish government has not ruled out taking additional measures: for the moment, the Spanish government has assumed management of the Community of Madrid, Extremadura, La Rioja, Andalusia, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, the Valencian Community, and Murcia, which have requested a declaration of emergency. In practice, this means that the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, takes charge of coordinating the affected territory and may request the collaboration and resources of the administrations under his direction. Despite the serious transportation problems, the economic losses for businesses, and the "distress" that those most exposed to the blackout may be experiencing, Sánchez stressed that "there are no security problems."

Isla convenes a crisis committee

Meanwhile, the Catalan government has activated a crisis committee with the regional ministers and President Salvador Illa since midday to monitor the evolution of the crisis. The committee has met three times and will meet again a fourth time tonight at 10 p.m. "We are working with the goal of returning to normal tomorrow," Salvador Illa stated at a press conference. The president confirmed that no major security incidents have occurred in Catalonia and expressed confidence that, over the next few hours, 100% of the power supply can be restored—as of 7:30 p.m., 41% had been restored. Some 7,120 Mossos d'Esquadra officers will patrol the streets of Catalonia tonight to prevent conflicts. Furthermore, almost all health centers have now restored power and have operated without incident throughout the day, without having to cancel any urgent interventions.

As the government has done throughout the day, Illa asked the public to remain "calm" and rejected "overreactions" in the face of a crisis that, however, he admitted is "absolutely exceptional" and without precedent, in response to the question of Extremadura, Andalusia, and Madrid, the Spanish government assuming control of the crisis. The president thanked the public for their behavior and asked them to inform themselves through official channels. "Unfortunately, emergency situations can be exploited by spurious interests," he warned. "Late and bad," he said of the Generalitat.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the Ministry of the Interior has prioritized the evacuation of people trapped on the metro and trains, whether in tunnels or elevators. At 9:00 p.m., there were still five trains awaiting evacuation. As for schools, the Government has instructed principals to remain open until the last student has left. At tonight's crisis committee meeting, it was decided that schools will reopen as normal this Tuesday.

Throughout the day, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have doubled their operational capacity to respond to incidents and manage traffic on the street. The 112 emergency service requested that calls be restricted to emergencies, while the Directorate General for Traffic (DGT) asked drivers to limit travel as much as possible.