Lights Go Out in Spain

Forty-nine million people affected

Yesterday the power went out in almost all of Spain and in much of Portugal. The day was extraordinary in many ways: thousands of people were stuck in elevators, on subways and on trains. Stoplights no longer worked leading to traffic gridlock in major cities. Banks closed and ATMs stopped working. The grocery stores that were open had long lines at the checkout and would only accept cash. Wifi and phone service were not available.

Airline travel was impacted too. “In total, there were 413 cancellations to and from Spain and 372 to and from Portugal yesterday,” according to aviation analysts Cirium.

In modern times, we rely on electricity for almost everything and this makes us quite vulnerable. Hubby suggested we get some ready-to-eat meals from the grocery store because the power might be out for a few days. I observed that we already had several glass jars of beans, many bags of nuts and several cartons of unopened regular and plant milk. So he didn't insist.

But because I was curio…