Photo: Rkehler3 · CC0Ste. Anne faces more hazards than 96% of Canadian towns
Fire is a regular visitor: 8.2% of the land within 25 km of Ste. Anne has burned since 1986 (0.33% a year). 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 Ste. Anne as elsewhere, 9.7% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Ste. Anne grades D− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Ste. Anne’s hazards
For Ste. Anne, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Ste. Anne faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Ste. Anne: D−
For Ste. Anne, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #182 of 185 in Manitoba and #2,550 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.
0% of the land near Ste. Anne’s homes has burned since 1986, 8.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Ste. Anne’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.33% of the land a year, Ste. Anne’s burn rate is high, many times the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Ste. Anne’s homes came within 7.5 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest fuel is scarce around Ste. Anne: 0% of the land within 5 km, 2.6% within 25 km.
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
The land around Ste. Anne burns at 0.33% a year, the 4th highest rate of 189 towns in Manitoba; Flin Flon (Part) tops it 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.
Ste. Anne is one of the few of Canada’s 2,610 towns in the high band (1.9%); 0.2% rank very high.
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.
A flood study covers Ste. Anne, from Manitoba Infrastructure: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Ste. Anne: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Ste. Anne the inventory points to Manitoba Infrastructure’s 2020 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seine River | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Ste. Anne is one of the 18% of towns in Manitoba with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
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 Ste. Anne 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Little shaking expected in Ste. Anne: $0.005 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.005 per $1,000, Ste. Anne carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Manitoba: Ste. Anne’s $0.005 sits by the median of $0.006, while Virden reaches $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, Ste. Anne has 96% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Ste. Anne 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).
Radon about average around Ste. Anne: 9.7% over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Ste. Anne’s area sits close to the typical Canadian town: 9.7% over the guideline, against 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Ste. Anne, 9.7% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town in Manitoba (12%).
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 Ste. Anne’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.
Radon varies from house to house in Ste. Anne, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the South Eastman health region
Where to get warnings in Ste. Anne
Alerts for Ste. Anne 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 Ste. Anne 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 Ste. Anne’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Ste. Anne (high), with Ste. Anne next at moderate.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Ste. Anne faces
Practical steps for Ste. Anne’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. For Ste. Anne, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Ste. Anne floods.
- 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 Ste. Anne sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Ste. Anne’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
Questions about flooding and hazards in Ste. Anne
Does Ste. Anne flood?
Ste. Anne’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Ste. Anne’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Ste. Anne D−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Ste. Anne?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Ste. Anne’s buildings lose $0.005 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Ste. Anne at risk of wildfire?
It is: 8.2% of the land within 25 km of Ste. Anne has burned since 1986, the latest in 2021, which puts it in the high band that lowers Risk.
Is radon a problem in Ste. Anne?
9.7% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around Ste. Anne 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).