Photo: ALAN SCHMIERER · CC0Torbay faces fewer hazards than 93% of Canadian towns
Burn scars are few around Torbay, with 1.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.03% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.011 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 4% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Torbay a grade of A; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Torbay’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Torbay: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Torbay faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Torbay: A
Seismic risk and radon set Torbay’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #11 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador and #278 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.
Little of the land around Torbay has burned: 0% within 5 km, 1.1% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Torbay’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Torbay fire takes 0.03% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Fire has stayed at least 20 km from Torbay’s homes since 1986.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Torbay: 65% within 5 km and 64% 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 Newfoundland and Labrador · highest of 32
Torbay sits mid-table in Newfoundland and Labrador: 11th of 32 towns, at 0.03% a year, well behind Labrador City (0.43%).
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 Torbay 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.
2 flood studies cover Torbay, the newest from GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Torbay: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Torbay is GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change’s, from 2025; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of St. John's Flood Mapping Study | GNL Department of Environment, Conservation and Climate Change | 2025 | final |
| Logy Bay - Middle Cove - Outer Cove | Department of Environment and Climate Change | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
59% of towns in Newfoundland and Labrador have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Torbay has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Torbay has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Torbay.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Torbay floods.
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 Torbay just $0.011 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.011 per $1,000, Torbay carries 0.4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Torbay runs at $0.011 a year, near the $0.011 of the typical town in Newfoundland and Labrador; Holyrood has $0.015.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 85% of its 2,611 towns sit above Torbay.
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 Torbay’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).
Radon runs low around Torbay: 4% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Eastern Regional Integrated Health Authority: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Torbay’s area has fewer, 4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Torbay is ordinary for towns in Newfoundland and Labrador: 4%, beside a median of 4%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts Torbay with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Torbay can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Torbay
Alerts for Torbay 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 Torbay 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)
Hazards in the places around Torbay
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torbay | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 2,601 · 5.0 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
| Flatrock 1,938 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.009 | 4% | None listed |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 9,167 · 9.5 km | Low | $0.013 | 4% | Yes |
| St. John's 128,693 · 11 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | Yes |
| Pouch Cove 2,270 · 12 km | Low | $0.010 | 4% | None listed |
| Wabana 2,008 · 15 km | Low | $0.011 | 4% | None listed |
The fire record around Wabana is a touch heavier than Torbay’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Torbay faces
Practical steps for Torbay’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
- 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 Torbay.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Torbay takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Torbay’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Torbay’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Torbay
Is Torbay at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Torbay’s band is low, with 1.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Torbay?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Torbay’s buildings lose $0.011 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Torbay’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Torbay A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Torbay flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Torbay; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Torbay?
4% of the 100 homes Health Canada tested around Torbay 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).