Photo: Eric Friedebach · CC BY 3.0Cypress County faces fewer hazards than 98% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Cypress County has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.006% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.006 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Cypress County: 4.4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cypress County a grade of A+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cypress County’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Cypress County: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Cypress County faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Cypress County: A+
For Cypress County, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #204 of 474 in Alberta and #219 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.
Wildfire is rare near Cypress County: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cypress County’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.006% a year keeps Cypress County in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
No fire has burned within 5 km of Cypress County’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 5.7 km away.
Around Cypress County 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
Cypress County ranks 66th of the 478 towns in Alberta for burn rate, at 0.006% a year; Wainwright leads with 1.43%.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Cypress County reads low, with 92% of them; only 7.5% rank higher.
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.
3 flood studies cover Cypress County, the newest from Government of Alberta
Flood studies whose area touches Cypress County, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
3 studies on the inventory touch Cypress County, the newest Government of Alberta’s from 2024, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine Hat Flood Study | Government of Alberta | 2024 | final |
| Irvine Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2013 | final |
| Walsh Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2013 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Cypress County is one of the 46% of towns in Alberta with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Studies touching Cypress County run from the 2010s to the 2020s, with the most in the 2010s: 2 of 3.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Cypress County.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Cypress County.
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.
Little shaking expected in Cypress County: $0.006 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.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Cypress County it is only $0.006, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Alberta expects $0.013 a year in shaking damage; Cypress County expects less, $0.006, and Black Diamond the most, $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.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Cypress County.
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 loss is to Cypress County’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Cypress County: 4.4% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
The survey area of Cypress County reads 4.4%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Below the typical town in Alberta (7.5%) at 4.4%, the area around Cypress County still had 2.2% of tests over 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Cypress County with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
One home in Cypress County can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Palliser Health Region
Weather and fire alerts for Cypress County
Alerts for Cypress County 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Cypress County to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cypress County’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypress County | Low | $0.006 | 4.4% | Yes |
| Medicine Hat 68,714 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.007 | 4.4% | Yes |
| Redcliff 5,916 · 12 km | Low | $0.006 | 4.4% | Yes |
Redcliff burns a little more than Cypress County, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cypress County faces
Practical steps for Cypress County’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. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Cypress County.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Cypress County’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Cypress County is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Cypress County’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cypress County
How big is the earthquake risk in Cypress County?
About $0.006 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cypress County.
Is radon a problem in Cypress County?
The area’s survey found 4.4% of 91 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Cypress County.
Is Cypress County at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Cypress County’s low band (0.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2022) is short of the level that counts.
How is Cypress County’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cypress County grades A+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Cypress County flood?
There is flood mapping for Cypress County on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
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).