The outage, blamed by operators on temperature variations, left tens of millions without electricity

Lights flickered back to life across most of Spain and Portugal on Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the Iberian peninsula, stranding passengers in trains and elevators while millions lost phone and internet coverage.

Electricity had been restored to nearly 90% of mainland Spain by early on Tuesday, the grid operator REE said. Power was restored overnight to around 6.2m households in Portugal out of 6.5m, according to the national electricity grid operator. Lights also came on again in Madrid and in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.

With mobile networks down and much of Spain’s transport system paralysed, people were left to navigate the chaos as best they could

It was the moment the lights went out. In a post-match interview, after her straight sets win to reach the last eight of the Madrid Open, American tennis star Coco Gauff was joking about her avocado toast breakfast and bad night’s sleep, when suddenly the microphone cut. She looked surprised, while behind her the LED ad boards turned black.

It was just after midday and all across the Iberian peninsula the power was failing, plunging Spain and Portugal into chaos. Buses and trains stopped; cash machines went dark; people were left trapped in unlit metro carriages and lifts, with no certainty about when they would get out.