Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainHazard risk in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap is lower than in 91% of Canadian towns
Some 5% of the land within 25 km of Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap has burned since 1986; at 0.13% a year that is moderate, not high. Seismic risk runs low: $0.007 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap is ordinary for Canada: 6.4% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: A
Earthquake risk and radon make Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: 5% within 25 km burned, 4.9% within 5 km
Past fire around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap burns at 0.13% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
More forest grows near Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes (82% within 5 km) than across 25 km (76%).
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 British Columbia · highest of 256
Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap ranks 51st of the 256 towns in British Columbia for burn rate, at 0.13% a year; Oliver leads with 0.98%.
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 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap, and 2.1% sit 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.
Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship’s in 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuswap Region Floodplain Maps | Province of B.C. - Water, Lands, and Resource Stewardship | 2025 | final |
| Eagle River Floodplain Mapping | Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in British Columbia reaches 76% of towns, Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1970s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: $0.007 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Shaking costs the typical town $0.030 a year; in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap it is only $0.007, 0.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.007, Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap is below the typical town in British Columbia ($0.36); Duncan is highest at $1.33.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap than in 88% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’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).
Radon about average around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap: 6.4% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Thompson/Cariboo health region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s area 6.4%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap (6.4%) than in the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%).
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 Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| 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. |
For fires near Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap | Moderate | $0.007 | 6.4% | Yes |
| Sicamous 2,854 · 9.3 km | Moderate | $0.006 | 6.4% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap (moderate); Sicamous comes closest (moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap faces
Practical steps for Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- 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 Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s.
- 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 Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap
Does Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap flood?
Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s moderate band (5% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
Is radon a problem in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap?
The area’s survey found 6.4% of 109 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap.
How is Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Electoral Area E, Columbia-Shuswap $0.007 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
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).