Photo: Sophilosophie · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Clare: 1 on record, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
Burn scars are few around Clare, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.002% a year). For earthquakes Clare is middling, $0.034 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 6.2% of homes tested in Clare’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Clare grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Clare’s hazards
For Clare, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Clare faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Clare: B+
Two inputs always count for Clare, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #36 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,087 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Few fires near Clare: 0.2% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Clare’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.002% of the land a year, Clare’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Within 5 km of Clare, 73% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 82%.
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 Nova Scotia · highest of 90
Barrington tops the 90 towns in Nova Scotia at 0.46% a year; Clare, at 0.002%, comes 60th.
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 Clare 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.
Clare is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Clare: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The flood study touching Clare is Province of Nova Scotia’s, dated 2023; its own map shows the zones street by street.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sissiboo/Bear Primary Watershed | Province of Nova Scotia | 2023 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Clare with 88% of towns in Nova Scotia; Canada’s share is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Clare.
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.
Expected shaking damage in Clare: $0.034 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Clare’s ground: $0.034 against a typical $0.030, 1.1 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Clare has the highest shaking-damage figure in Nova Scotia, $0.034 a year per $1,000; the median is $0.018.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 46% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Clare.
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 Clare 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).
6.2% of homes tested around Clare are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Zone 1 health region: radon tests
6.2% of tested homes around Clare were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Clare’s area, at 6.2%, is below the median in Nova Scotia (13%), though 2.1% 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.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Clare’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Clare, 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).
Where to get warnings in Clare
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Clare; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Clare come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Clare faces
What to do about the hazards Clare faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Clare’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Clare is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Clare.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Clare.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Clare
Is radon a problem in Clare?
Around Clare, 97 survey homes were tested and 6.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Clare flood?
There is flood mapping for Clare on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Clare?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Clare $0.034 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Clare at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Clare since 1986 (last in 2024); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Clare’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Clare 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).