State of emergency declared as panic-buying sweeps Spain and Portugal

has declared a state of emergency after a nationwide power blackout hit most of the Iberian peninsula, leaving roads gridlocked and prompting people to clear supermarket shelves.

The country's Interior Ministry added the emergency status will be applied in the regions that request it - amid fears the chaos could last for days.

The outage has caused madness across the nation with the interior ministry deploying 30,000 police officers countrywide to maintain security in an evening of darkness.

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