Enmax should have power restored to all of west downtown by midday Thursday "if all goes according to plan," power company CEO Gianna Manes said on Monday.



The utility has pulled out 3.5 kilometres of cable damaged in an underground vault fire Saturday night, and has begun to replace it, the CEO told reporters at an Emergency Operations Centre briefing.



Earlier, the city-owned utility had estimated it could take until the weekend to restore power to several high-density blocks of the downtown. Manes said the clearer timeline has come after 20 Enmax workers have worked continuously in confined underground spaces.



The city's roads should all be back and running during Tuesday morning rush hour, Mayor Naheed Nenshi told the briefing. There will be some lane reductions in the area where the fire occurred.



Seventy per cent of residents in the blackout zone have self evacuated, fire chief Ken Uzeloc said. City crews are doing checks on the many seniors who have chosen to stay in their buildings.



The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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For much of the morning and early afternoon Sunday, residents of the area's condo towers and apartment buildings could be seen hauling belongings out of their homes in suitcases, grocery bags, and trolley carts. Others sat on the curbside, waiting for suburban friends or family members to pick them up.



Many of these residents had spent the night in their powerless apartments, fully expecting life would be back to normal when they woke up. It was only Sunday morning, as news began to trickle in, that they realized it might be a good idea to find another place to stay.



Taara Smith sat outside her Calgary Place apartment building, waiting for the friend who has offered to take her in for a few days.



"We all really thought it was going to be a two or three-hour thing," Smith said. "It was only this morning when Mayor Nenshi said 4 to 7 days — then everyone freaked out."





Vehicle traffic was blocked in parts of the affected area, which stretches from 4th Avenue to 7th Avenue S.W. and from 4th Street to 11th Street S.W., but as of 4 p.m. Sunday the closed area had shrunk significantly. Only a one block radius where the fire occurred — 5th and 6th Avenue between 7th and 9th Street and 8th Street between 4th Avenue and 6th Street S.W. — remained closed to traffic on Sunday evening and Calgary Transit was running normally.



City officials said problems with heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems have hampered carbon monoxide monitoring in some downtown buildings affected by the outages.



Two downtown buildings — 921 5 Ave SW and Calgary Place West Tower — were evacuated on Saturday afternoon due to ventilation issues.



Uzeloc said one building was dealing with a gas leak while the other was evacuated due to high carbon monoxide levels in the facility. Officials did not know how many people were impacted by the evacuations.



Power is down for several commercial buildings, including Standard Life Building, Bantrel Tower, Fifth and Fifth, AMEC Place, Plaza 1000 and Trimac House and disruptions are expected to impact commuters after the holiday weekend on Tuesday.



"There will be major disruption to normal business in the affected area until infrastructure is rebuilt," said Mayor Nenshi on Sunday.



"It will not be possible early this week for there to be business as usual in those affected areas."



An estimated 10,000 employees will likely have to work from home in the coming days, according to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.



"I would suggest in the grand scheme of things the impact to Calgary economy will be minimal," said Adam Legge, the chamber's president and CEO, who estimated a total of 150,000 people work downtown. "But still there's obviously going to be small businesses that have some interruptions that could be costly to them."



Businesses with computer servers and networks based in affected buildings will be "to a large degree completely un-operational," Legge said.



"The key piece for them now to mobilize any continuity plans they've got in terms of continuing operations, without servers, without network access, without being able to be on site," he said. "And they should probably be prepared to have that activated for at least seven days."



The outages have disrupted the local telephone network, including 911 service, which means residents experiencing an emergency should use a cellphone or someone else's line.



The lack of power has also reduced water pressure for residents living in units at or above the 13th floor of affected downtown buildings, according to the city. Water may be dribbling from bathroom and kitchen taps, or not flowing at all, while toilets may not be working, but city officials say the water is still safe to drink.



Officials say they are trying to resolve the problem and have been working with the Building Owner and Managers Association (BOMA) Calgary to monitor the situation and update affected residents. Potable water is available at the Mewata Armoury, Uzeloc said.



The outages were a source of frustration for thousands of residents who were forced to find other places to stay for the coming days. But strangers have offered transportation, turkey dinner and a place to washing clothing, among other help through the Twitter hashtag #yycthanks.



"It's really quite a wonderful thing," said Nenshi of the hashtag. "Thanks again to all of those who are reaching out to help."



Alex Foisy, who lives downtown, said he and his brother carried a man bound by a wheelchair up 10 flights of stairs to his apartment building Saturday night, given that power outages had shuttered elevators.



The two brothers met the man at a downtown bar a few hours before, and offered to help him get home. They attempted to carry him up the stairs in his wheelchair, but when they realized it was going to be an arduous trek, strangers came by and said they would help.



While Foisy and his brother carried the man on their shoulders, another helper hauled the wheelchair.



"When we got there, he was really pleased a couple random people made sure he was able to get home," Foisy said.



Local officials have set up an information centre at Mewata Armoury on 11th St S.W. for affected residents.



Eau Claire YMCA on 3rd Street S.W. is offering access to showers, among other services, for residents with ID and proof they live in the affected area and Shaw unlocked its wifi network across the city, while Telus stores across the city allowed citizens to charge devices. The Calgary Parking Authority relaxed



City officials say residents should not remain at home if emergency lighting, alarm and sprinkler systems are not working. Fire crews inspected those systems in surrounding buildings and were expected to hand their reports to building owners and managers.



Citizens leaving their homes were asked to unplug electrical devices, including computers, televisions and appliances, empty their fridge and freezer and bring identification confirming their address, home insurance information and any property management contact information with them.



Nenshi said it's too early to say if financial help from the province will be required but noted he talked to both Premier Jim Prentice and Minister of Municipal Affairs Diana McQueen on Sunday.



"Both the premier and minister McQueen have reached out and suggested that the province is there regardless of what we need and we should lean on them for assistance," he said.



The downtown blackout started when crews responding to 5th Avenue and 8th Street S.W. Saturday night removed the cover of a manhole and found a large amount of smoke and blue flame billowing from underground. A number of underground explosions could also be heard.



The fire destroyed electrical infrastructure below street level, including fiberoptic cables.



An ATCO employee was injured when the fire happened on Saturday night and transported to hospital with minor burns.



Enmax warns that crews will not be able to gradually turn power on for customers like they did during the massive snowstorm in September. The entire system is shut down until it can be repaired, which means officials expect to restore power to a majority of affected residents at once, expected in at least four days.



At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Nenshi called the power fire "kind of a freak thing" and said an incident like this has not happened in decades.



Air quality in buildings surrounding the site of the fire has been deemed acceptable but fire officials say that if residents believe they are not feeling well as a result of inhaling smoke, they should contact HealthLink Alberta.



For those who stay, city officials say they are looking at making powered spots available to affected residents where they could charge their phones and other electronic devices. Officials didn't say exactly when those spots will be announced.



"For now, we are looking to Calgarians to please look after your family, friends, as always, who are affected by this, particularly on this thanksgiving weekend," Nenshi said.



With files from Erika Stark and Annalise Klingbeil