Photo: Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand · CC0Flood mapping exists for Sunnyside: 1 on record, latest by Government of Alberta
Wildfire barely registers for Sunnyside, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Sunnyside, near the typical $0.030. Sunnyside’s survey area, 8.1% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sunnyside a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sunnyside’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sunnyside: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sunnyside faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sunnyside: B+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Sunnyside with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Sunnyside: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Sunnyside’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Sunnyside burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around Sunnyside’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 11 km out.
Around Sunnyside the forest is thin or far off: 0% of the land within 5 km and 0.9% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
Wainwright has the highest burn rate in Alberta, 1.43% a year; around Sunnyside, as around 386 of the 478 towns, it rounds to 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.
The low band holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Sunnyside sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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.
Government of Alberta has mapped flooding for Sunnyside (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sunnyside: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Government of Alberta holds the flood mapping that covers Sunnyside (2025), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow and Elbow River Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2025 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Sunnyside apart in Alberta, where 46% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Sunnyside floods.
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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Sunnyside $0.023 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sunnyside’s $0.023 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.8 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Alberta peaks in Black Diamond ($0.048); Sunnyside, at $0.023, sits above the median of $0.013.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Sunnyside (54%).
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).
The model counts damage to Sunnyside’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Calgary)
Radon about average around Sunnyside: 8.1% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Sunnyside’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 8.1% over the guideline, against 6.6%. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Calgary Health Region, Sunnyside included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Sunnyside is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 8.1%, beside a median of 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sunnyside is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Sunnyside; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Sunnyside
Alerts for Sunnyside 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. |
Evacuation orders for Sunnyside come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sunnyside’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunnyside | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Rosedale 2,507 · 0.6 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Eau Claire 3,733 · 0.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown Commercial Core 9,286 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Downtown West End 2,796 · 1.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Hillhurst 8,435 · 1.3 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Crescent Heights 6,411 · 1.4 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sunnyside (low), with Rosedale next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sunnyside faces
What to do about the hazards Sunnyside faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Sunnyside.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Sunnyside’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Sunnyside’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sunnyside takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sunnyside
Is Sunnyside at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Sunnyside since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sunnyside?
Around Sunnyside, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Sunnyside flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Sunnyside; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How is Sunnyside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sunnyside B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sunnyside?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sunnyside’s buildings lose $0.023 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).