Iberian Peninsula Blackout

On Monday, April 28 at about 11:30AM, we lost power in our apartment.  We assumed it was a local occurrence, confined to our neighborhood.  We left to meet a friend for lunch at a local Portuguese restaurant, one of Ryder's favorites for their mixed grill.  

When we arrived at the restaurant, we learned that the power outage was affecting the entire country, along with Spain and potentially other countries as well.  While a bit concerned, we learned that the restaurant was still able to serve us menu items off the grill (Ryder was relieved) along with salad.  We settled into a leisurely lunch.

While at lunch, we still had cell service and were able to look up information on our phones via the internet.  By the time we got back to our apartment, however, we noted that we no longer had any cell service and so no connection to the internet either.  The Wi-Fi was out at the apartment, of course, because we had no power.  At this point, we began to feel a distinct isolation, with no way to communicate or get any information about the power crisis.  

We began to think of worse case scenarios, of having no power for 3-4 days.  We had plenty of bottled water; the water to the apartment never went off, but we had to consider the possibility.  We had a decent amount of food and a barbeque to use, though we would have to begin cooking the contents of our freezer within a day or two.  We had candles and small reading lights we could use as flashlights.  We had two full power banks to keep our phones charged for whenever the electricity came back.  It was interesting and sobering to think through your daily needs in an unconnected world.  

We thought to listen to the radio in our car but quickly found out that there are no English language radio stations here.  We did speak with our Portuguese neighbors, who told us that power was expected to come back in the overnight hours.  We settled in for a quiet, dark evening.

Just before 9PM, the power came back in our apartment.  Shortly afterwards, we had cell service and Wi-Fi internet.  We learned that not all our friends in Tavira were back on the grid yet, but they would soon be.  Even a day later, the cause of the outage has not been determined, though it appears to have started in Spain and affected Portugal through their inter-connected power grids.  

What lessons did we learn from this experience?  Keep power banks charged (we are going to invest in a solar powered one).  Try to always have some cash on-hand as the ATMs all went offline.  Keep at least a 1/2 tank of gas in the car.  Always have water and shelf stable food on hand.  Sobering thoughts for these uncertain times.