Explosion takes out several services

The Shaw building was evacuated after an explosion in an electrical room.

The city has activated its Municipal Emergency Plan and opened the Emergency Operations Centre after an explosion at a building downtown.

The plan was activated at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday after an explosion at Shaw Court in the 600 block of 3 Ave. S.W.

It appears that the explosion originated in an electrical unit on one of the top floors of the building.

The incident is affecting everything from communications to banking.

The Alberta Emergency Alert service says that the incident has also affected 9-1-1 service to Shaw landline customers in the core.

They say up to 30,000 people could be affected and say people to use their cellphones to call 911 if necessary.

The city says some cell phone and data service providers who use Shaw fibre lines may also be affected.

Then city has issued some tips for emergency calls:

They are also asking Calgarians to only use 3-1-1 for priority issues, like water main breaks, sewer back ups, traffic light disruptions and dog bites.

Emergency crews are trying to determine what happened and have blocked off several roads around the building.

Occupants were evacuated from the building and there were no injuries reported.

Click here to view the Municipal Emergency Plan.