Five things you need in the event of a current interruption

The power is out and nothing works. How should I go through the day?

This was the question that millions of people faced on Monday in Spain and Portugal during the worst dimming electricity in their history.

We ask the people who spent the day without electricity about what helped them cope with life and what the things they need are missing.

Payment with a phone and card has become the norm, but in the cities in Spain and Portugal, the queues formed on cash machines – at least those who still worked – as the stores have passed from card payments.

“We were able to pay for our cafes with a card when the interruption first started, (but later) we had no money, so we couldn’t buy something,” Ed Rowe 26 -year in Madrid told the BBC.

“All open restaurants were only in cash.”

32 -year -old Grace O’Liri, who also lives in the capital of Spain, said that she and her mother count coins to see if there is enough money to buy wine from a corner shop.

“The cache is obviously actually King.”

The 28 -year -old Jaime Giorgio was lucky to have some money, which allowed him to buy food and other basic things.

“It was quite chaotic in Madrid, there was no pipe and you couldn’t make money.

“I had money, but my roommate didn’t do it, so I had to get him money to buy things.”

Power cutting has also led to an eclipse of information as people spent the day without the Internet, WhatsApp, calls and television.

“The complete loss of communication was the most staggering and concerned about something … We were only left to speculate on the reason and to collect news from the people in the neighborhood,” said Daniel Cleg of Barcelona.

The 42-year-old said the lack of information made him look at the sky to see if the planes were still flying.

For Siegfriad and Christine Buschschluter, Windup’s old radio helped to set up on local radio stations to find out what was happening after their phones stopped working and power went to their rural home outside the capital of Spain.

Christine, 82, explained: “You had to continue to hide and wind up.

“It was a rather strange situation. I was born in Berlin during the war and reminded me of those days when my parents tried to get some news – that brought me back.”

The couple believes that the interruption will lead to a boom in the search for battery -controlled radio stations.

And it is also on the Daniel shopping list. “The main kit to back to the communication of the foundations and I am not informed that I have completely neglected to remember.”

Microwaves, air fried and some hobs and ovens require electricity.

But on Monday, food that does not require electricity to heat or cook was in demand.

In supermarkets, buyers formed long tails and panic-purchased bases-tout scenes from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We bought a lot of food that would not go out, like tuna in canned food, just in case,” says actor Haime.

“The interruption lasts only one day and now we have so much food, but the greater part of them will not go wrong as it is easily saved.”

Leslie Elder, in the city of Fortuna in southeastern Spain, said: “When trying to find food, there is no need to warm up, it was more difficult than we thought.

“So, in the end, we had ham and cheese for dinner.”

She adds that a small gas stove for heating food in a pan would be useful.

Through the Iberian Peninsula, people turned to candles to light dark spaces.

Richard, who lives in the Spanish city of Alcala de Henares, said she did not have any street light when she fell.

“People found their way from torch. It was quite surreal to see the view from my window completely black, especially when I live to a double roadway,” he said.

“In my spare time, I do candles and fortunately I had a few spares to see in the dark.”

Barcelona Sarah Baxter said she even used a candle stove to heat the food.

“We can heat beans and rice and bring water to boiling for instant potatoes,” she said.

“It was much more forthcoming than the camping stove in propane inside the apartment.”

Although candles and bare flames can pose a risk of fire.

Without power, people rely on battery in their devices.

In Madrid, people queued out of technology stores to get a bank for electricity.

Fortunately for Sarah, she had a solar charger that kept her phone charged in ten hours of eclipse, and helped her elderly neighbor do the same.

Leslie says Kindle has run out of battery. “No television, no puzzle on my phone. So you have a few books would be useful,” she said.

But for others, you had no internet access and their devices was a relief.

“Everyone relying on the technology so much that it is a pretty pleasant reminder that you can be more independent,” Ed said.

“You don’t have to contact everyone all the time,” said his roommate Hannah Steiner, 23 years old. “I had fun with my roommates.”

The 24 -year -old Sarah Francisco of Leia, in Central Portugal, said, “I feel that this thing that happened was important to make us be more aware and to be more aware of our habits.”