Much of Spain's second-largest city plunged into darkness Friday because of a blackout blamed on a cold wave gripping northern and eastern provinces.

Known for its balmy Mediterranean temperatures, Barcelona and the Catalonia region in general grappled with snow that ranged from a dusting downtown to up to 1 foot of white in towns further inland.

The power outage began around 7:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) and service was still spotty two hours later.

Snow was blamed for an accident in which a truck hit a car carrying five people near the town of Calaf, killing all five. An hour later, a snowplow driver died when his vehicle flipped over.