Photo: Buchanan-Hermit · Public domainEarthquake risk in Cloverdale runs 16 times the typical Canadian town’s: $0.47 per $1,000 a year
Burn scars are few around Cloverdale, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). Radon is lower than usual: 0% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cloverdale a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Cloverdale’s hazards
For Cloverdale, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cloverdale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cloverdale grades B for hazard risk
For Cloverdale, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #59 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,520 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Only 70 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Cloverdale: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Cloverdale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Forty years of fire maps put Cloverdale at 0.003% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Cloverdale’s homes came within 19 km, never inside 5 km.
Homes in Cloverdale sit on open or built-up ground (1.7% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 17%.
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 255
Oliver tops the 255 towns in British Columbia at 0.98% a year; Cloverdale, at 0.003%, comes 191st.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Cloverdale, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Cloverdale is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Surrey
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cloverdale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Cloverdale, City of Surrey’s from 2015, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Serpentine & Nicomekl River Climate Change Floodplain Review Phase 2 | City of Surrey | 2015 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in British Columbia: 76% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Cloverdale is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Cloverdale’s homes are at risk.
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.
High seismic risk in Cloverdale: $0.47 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Cloverdale’s $0.47 is about 15.7 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in British Columbia peaks in Duncan ($1.33); Cloverdale, at $0.47, sits above the median of $0.36.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns face more earthquake damage than Cloverdale: 1.6% of them.
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 Cloverdale 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). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Surrey
Little radon around Cloverdale: 0% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Cloverdale’s area has fewer, 0%. Cloverdale doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Fraser South health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Cloverdale’s area, at 0%, is below the median in British Columbia (1.8%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Cloverdale’s band, which holds 37%.
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.
Whatever Cloverdale’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cloverdale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Cloverdale; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Cloverdale, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Cloverdale’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloverdale | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Rosewood Park 9,004 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Provinceton 11,625 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Sunrise Estates 4,292 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Surrey Centre 16,482 · 2.5 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Clayton Heights 8,961 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Aloha Estates 13,194 · 2.8 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | None listed |
The fire record around Surrey Centre is a touch heavier than Cloverdale’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cloverdale faces
Practical steps for Cloverdale’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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Cloverdale’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cloverdale, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Cloverdale until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Cloverdale without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cloverdale
How big is the earthquake risk in Cloverdale?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Cloverdale $0.47 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Cloverdale at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Cloverdale’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2022), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Cloverdale flood?
A flood study covers Cloverdale on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Cloverdale?
0% of the 70 homes Health Canada tested around Cloverdale topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Cloverdale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Cloverdale B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).