Photo: DJ Cane · CC BY-SA 4.0Shaking costs buildings in Sunnyside $0.47 a year per $1,000 of value, 16 times the typical town’s
Burn scars are few around Sunnyside, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.004% a year). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sunnyside a grade of B; its wildfire band pulls it down.
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
Sunnyside grades B for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Sunnyside’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #59 of 254 in British Columbia and #1,520 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 70 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Sunnyside: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 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 0.004% 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 17 km out.
About as much forest grows next to Sunnyside’s homes (9.1% within 5 km) as across 25 km (5.4%).
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; Sunnyside, at 0.004%, comes 144th.
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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Sunnyside burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Sunnyside is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by City of Surrey
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sunnyside: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
City of Surrey studied flooding in an area that includes Sunnyside (2015); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| 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
76% of towns in British Columbia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Sunnyside has one too.
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 Sunnyside.
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 Sunnyside: $0.47 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Sunnyside’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); Sunnyside, 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 Sunnyside: 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).
The loss is to Sunnyside’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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Surrey
0% of homes tested around Sunnyside are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
A lower share than most: 0% of tested homes around Sunnyside, the typical Canadian town 6.6%. Sunnyside shares its radon tests numbers with the rest of the Fraser South health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in British Columbia (1.8%), the area around Sunnyside has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Sunnyside 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Sunnyside as anywhere, test to be sure.
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 | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Semiahmoo Town Centre 13,381 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| South Surrey 6,431 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Grandview 16,947 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Morgan Creek 8,084 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| Anderson Walk 4,210 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.47 | 0% | Yes |
| White Rock 25,057 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.60 | 0% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sunnyside (low), with Semiahmoo Town Centre next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sunnyside faces
Practical steps for Sunnyside’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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
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?
Sunnyside’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sunnyside?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Sunnyside $0.47 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Sunnyside at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Sunnyside’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2016), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Sunnyside?
0% of the 70 homes Health Canada tested around Sunnyside topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).