Photo: eileenmak · CC BY 2.0Around Morden, 43% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Morden’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.001% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.004 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Morden a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Morden’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Morden: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Morden faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Morden grades B for hazard risk
For Morden, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #148 of 185 in Manitoba and #1,565 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 Morden: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Morden’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Morden burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Morden’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 17 km away.
Only 0% of the land within 25 km of Morden is forest fuel, and 0% close in.
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
At 0.001% a year, Morden is near the top in Manitoba: 31st of 189, behind Flin Flon (Part) (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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Morden 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.
No flood study is listed for Morden
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Morden: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
An empty entry for Morden on the inventory isn’t proof of safety; ask locally for flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and Morden has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Morden to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Morden: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.004 per $1,000, Morden carries 0.1 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.004, Morden is below the typical town in Manitoba ($0.006); Virden is highest at $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.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Morden has 98% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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 Morden’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).
43% of homes tested around Morden are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Central health region
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Morden’s area, at 43%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Morden, 43% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 7.4% over 600, against a median of 12% in Manitoba.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Morden is in the top band, 30% or more, with just 1.5% of Canada’s towns.
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 Morden 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).
Weather and fire alerts for Morden
Alerts for Morden 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 Morden to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Morden
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Winkler (low) has the heaviest fire record of Morden’s neighbours, and Morden (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Morden faces
Practical steps for Morden’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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Morden.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Morden’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Morden takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Morden’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Morden
How big is the earthquake risk in Morden?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Morden $0.004 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Morden at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Morden’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2000), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Morden’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Morden B, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Morden?
43% of the 108 homes Health Canada tested around Morden topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does Morden flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Morden (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
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).