Photo: Words in the Wind · CC BY-SA 4.0Radon is Two Borders’ main hazard: 35% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Around Two Borders, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.007 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Two Borders grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Two Borders’s hazards
For Two Borders, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Two Borders faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Two Borders: C+
Earthquake risk and radon make Two Borders’ grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Two Borders: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Two Borders’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Two Borders’ burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Two Borders’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 8.7 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Two Borders: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0% 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 190
Two Borders ranks 31st of the 190 towns in Manitoba for burn rate, at 0.001% a year; Flin Flon (Part) leads with 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Two Borders reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Two Borders is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Manitoba Infrastructure
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Two Borders: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Manitoba Infrastructure and others have studied flooding in areas that include Two Borders: 2 studies, the latest from 2019.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pierson | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2019 | final · not public |
| Souris River | Manitoba Infrastructure | 2018 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Two Borders 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Two Borders’ 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Two Borders just $0.007 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.007 per $1,000, Two Borders carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Top in Manitoba: Two Borders’ $0.007 against a median of $0.006.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of Canada’s 2,611 towns (88%) face more earthquake damage than Two Borders.
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 Two Borders 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).
35% of homes tested around Two Borders are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Two Borders’ area has 35%. Nobody publishes radon tests for Two Borders alone, so this card uses the figure for the Assiniboine health region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Two Borders’ area, at 35%, is above the median in Manitoba (12%), and 1.8% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
No band is higher: Two Borders is among the 1.5% of Canada’s towns with 30% or more of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
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 Two Borders 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 Two Borders
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Two Borders; 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 Two Borders, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Two Borders faces
Practical steps for Two Borders’ 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Two Borders takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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 Two Borders.
- 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 Two Borders.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Two Borders’ included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Two Borders
Is radon a problem in Two Borders?
35% of the 110 homes Health Canada tested around Two Borders topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Two Borders?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Two Borders’ buildings lose $0.007 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Two Borders’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Two Borders’ Hazard risk grade is C+, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Two Borders at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Two Borders’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2007), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Two Borders flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Two Borders; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
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).