Photo: Alangh · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Norbert is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
The national fire record shows next to nothing around St. Norbert, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs low: $0.006 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives St. Norbert a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about St. Norbert’s hazards
For St. Norbert, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What St. Norbert faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
St. Norbert grades B+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set St. Norbert’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #10 of 185 in Manitoba and #940 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The radon share rests on 66 home tests in the survey area, so a few homes move it. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around St. Norbert has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around St. Norbert’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around St. Norbert each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Fire has stayed at least 23 km from St. Norbert’s homes since 1986.
Little near St. Norbert’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 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 189
Fire has taken almost none of the land around St. Norbert, as for 60 of the 189 towns in Manitoba; Flin Flon (Part) tops the list 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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; St. Norbert is among the many where the yearly burn rate rounds to zero.
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.
St. Norbert is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for St. Norbert: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches St. Norbert, Hydrologic Forecasting and Water Management Branch of Manitoba Transporation and Infrastructure ’s from 2025, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| 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
Mapping in Manitoba reaches 18% of towns, St. Norbert among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 St. Norbert’s 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.
Low seismic risk in St. Norbert: $0.006 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.006 per $1,000, St. Norbert carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
For earthquake risk, the only official count covers all of the city of Winnipeg, St. Norbert included.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: St. Norbert at $0.006 beside a median in Manitoba of $0.006, with Virden on top 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.
St. Norbert is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 88% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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).
For St. Norbert the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
12% of homes tested around St. Norbert 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 Winnipeg health region
St. Norbert’s area, at 12%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Manitoba has 12% over 200 Bq/m³; St. Norbert’s area has 12%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around St. Norbert, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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.
Whatever St. Norbert’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in St. Norbert
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for St. Norbert; 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. |
For fires near St. Norbert, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around St. Norbert
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Norbert | Low | $0.006 | 12% | Yes |
| Richmond West 6,114 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Fort Richmond 11,563 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| South Pointe 8,168 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Fairfield Park 4,578 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Normand Park 5,299 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
| Bridgwater Trails 11,365 · 4.8 km | Low | $0.006 | 12% | None listed |
St. Norbert’s low band tops its neighbours; Richmond West is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what St. Norbert faces
Practical steps for St. Norbert’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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. For St. Norbert, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for St. Norbert’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 St. Norbert 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 St. Norbert sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in St. Norbert
How big is the earthquake risk in St. Norbert?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in St. Norbert $0.006 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is St. Norbert at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: St. Norbert’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2012), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does St. Norbert flood?
St. Norbert’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in St. Norbert?
12% of the 66 homes Health Canada tested around St. Norbert topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is St. Norbert’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives St. Norbert B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).