Photo: Matthew ave jor · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Lorette: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
Some 4.6% of the land within 25 km of Lorette has burned since 1986; at 0.18% a year that is moderate, not high. Seismic risk runs low: $0.005 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Lorette as elsewhere, 9.7% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lorette a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lorette’s hazards
For Lorette, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lorette faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lorette: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Lorette’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #1 of 185 in Manitoba and #635 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Lorette: 3.4% within 5 km, 4.6% within 25 km
Past fire around Lorette’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.18% of the land a year, Lorette’s burn rate is moderate; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel rises from 0.6% within 5 km of Lorette to 7.7% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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 Manitoba · highest of 189
In the top quarter in Manitoba: Lorette ranks 9th of 189 at 0.18% a year, with Flin Flon (Part) first at 1.68%.
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 Lorette, 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.
Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure has mapped flooding for Lorette (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Lorette: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Lorette is Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s, dated 2025; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling Study for the Red River | Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure | 2025 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Lorette apart in Manitoba, where 18% 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.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Lorette’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lorette just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.005 per $1,000, Lorette carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Lorette ($0.005) matches the middle in Manitoba ($0.006), far from Virden’s $0.007.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Lorette.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Lorette.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
9.7% of homes tested around Lorette are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the South Eastman health region: radon tests
Lorette’s area, at 9.7%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Lorette is ordinary for towns in Manitoba: 9.7%, beside a median of 12%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Lorette, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% rank above.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Lorette can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Lorette
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lorette; 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 Lorette, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Lorette’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lorette | Moderate | $0.005 | 9.7% | Yes |
| Ste. Anne 3,587 · 15 km | High | $0.005 | 9.7% | Yes |
| Ste. Anne 6,387 · 18 km | Moderate | $0.005 | 9.7% | Yes |
| Sage Creek 7,391 · 19 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
Fire is heaviest around Ste. Anne (high), against moderate for Lorette.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lorette faces
Practical steps for Lorette’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
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Lorette.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Lorette’s included.
- 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 Lorette until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Lorette without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lorette
Is Lorette at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Lorette’s band is moderate, with 4.6% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2021), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Lorette flood?
A flood study covers Lorette on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lorette?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Lorette $0.005 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Lorette’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lorette A−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Lorette?
9.7% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around Lorette 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).