Thousands still without power in Calgary; restoration expected Thursday

Workers continue to try and restore power to an area of the downtown in Calgary, Monday, Oct. 13, 2014. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

About 5,000 residents and more than 2,000 businesses in downtown Calgary remain without power following a fire in an underground vault.

The outage began Saturday night, leaving thousands in the dark over the Thanksgiving holiday. After the fire, technicians pulled more than three and a half kilometres of fried cable out of the ground.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Enmax, the power company responsible for the affected area, said it hopes to restore electricity by midday Thursday.

City staff are asking affected residents to stay with family and friends, if possible, until power is restored. Search-and-rescue crews have been going door-to-door to check on the vulnerable and elderly.

Food and hotel vouchers were being offered Monday at the downtown armoury, where hundreds of people lined up for assistance.

Several provincial government buildings, including the Calgary Courts Centre, are also without power and will be closed Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the province is not expecting “major” disruptions in government services over the next few days, Minister of Minister of Municipal Affairs Diana McQueen said Monday.

Alberta Premier Jim Prentice told reporters that he will be sharing office space with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi because his own office is affected by the outage.

Prentice said he was impressed by Calgarians’ “incredible resiliency and community spirit” as they wait for power to be restored.

Meanwhile, the city and the local chamber of commerce are asking downtown workers to stay home on Tuesday.

“We’re definitely suggesting people not come to work tomorrow unless they absolutely have to,” said Scott Crockatt of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

With a report from CTV Calgary’s Bridget Brown