Photo: Thank you for visiting my page from Canada · CC BY 2.0Riverbend is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Government of Alberta
Around Riverbend, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Riverbend is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon around Riverbend is ordinary for Canada: 8.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Riverbend grades B+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Riverbend’s hazards
For Riverbend, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Riverbend faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Riverbend grades B+ for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Riverbend’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Riverbend: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Riverbend’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Riverbend burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Riverbend’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.3 km away.
Only 0.8% of the land within 25 km of Riverbend is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 478
Among the 478 towns in Alberta, Wainwright burns fastest (1.43% a year); Riverbend is with the 386 near zero.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Riverbend, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
Riverbend is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Riverbend, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Riverbend the inventory points to Government of Alberta’s 2025 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 46% of towns in Alberta have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%; Riverbend is one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Riverbend.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Expected shaking damage in Riverbend: $0.023 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Riverbend’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Figures for earthquake risk are published for the city of Calgary as a whole, not for Riverbend alone.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year; Riverbend expects $0.023, and Black Diamond $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 54% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Riverbend.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Riverbend is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.1% of homes tested around Riverbend are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Riverbend reads 8.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Alberta has 7.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Riverbend’s area has 8.1%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Riverbend’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Riverbend’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Area behind the radon tests figures: the Calgary Health Region
Where to get warnings in Riverbend
Alerts for Riverbend come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Fire danger and active fires near Riverbend are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Riverbend
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverbend | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Ogden 8,484 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Willow Park 6,891 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Acadia 9,950 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Douglasdale/Glen 13,333 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Fairview 3,909 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Queensland 4,452 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Riverbend has the most fire on record (low); Ogden follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Riverbend faces
Practical steps for Riverbend’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Riverbend floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Riverbend’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Riverbend.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Riverbend sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Riverbend
How is Riverbend’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Riverbend B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Riverbend?
The area’s survey found 8.1% of 86 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Riverbend.
How big is the earthquake risk in Riverbend?
About $0.023 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Riverbend.
Is Riverbend at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Riverbend’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2014) is short of the level that counts.
Does Riverbend flood?
Riverbend’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).