Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainColchester County, Subdivision B is on Canada’s flood inventory: 4 listed, led by Province of Nova Scotia
Burn scars are few around Colchester County, Subdivision B, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.001% a year). For earthquakes Colchester County, Subdivision B is middling, $0.017 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Colchester County, Subdivision B grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Colchester County, Subdivision B’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Colchester County, Subdivision B: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Colchester County, Subdivision B faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Colchester County, Subdivision B: B−
Earthquake risk and radon make Colchester County, Subdivision B’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #40 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,624 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.
Few fires near Colchester County, Subdivision B: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Colchester County, Subdivision B’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.001% a year keeps Colchester County, Subdivision B in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
Forest thickens with distance from Colchester County, Subdivision B: 67% of the land within 5 km, 73% 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 Nova Scotia · highest of 90
Barrington tops the 90 towns in Nova Scotia at 0.46% a year; Colchester County, Subdivision B, at 0.001%, comes 69th.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Colchester County, Subdivision B, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Colchester County, Subdivision B is on the flood map inventory: 4 studies, latest by Province of Nova Scotia
Flood studies whose area touches Colchester County, Subdivision B, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Province of Nova Scotia and others have studied flooding in areas that include Colchester County, Subdivision B: 4 studies, the latest from 2025.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northumberland Shore Region | Province of Nova Scotia | 2025 | final · not public |
| Northumberland Region | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2025 | under review · not public |
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| Fundy Agricultural Marshlands Flood Maps | Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University | 2018 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Colchester County, Subdivision B 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.
Mapping around Colchester County, Subdivision B goes back to the 2010s and peaks in the 2020s, with 3 of its 4 studies.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Colchester County, Subdivision B.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Colchester County, Subdivision B’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Colchester County, Subdivision B: $0.017 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.017 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Colchester County, Subdivision B is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Colchester County, Subdivision B’s $0.017 against $0.018; Clare reaches $0.034.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Earthquakes cost less around Colchester County, Subdivision B than in 70% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Colchester County, Subdivision B’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 high around Colchester County, Subdivision B: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Zone 3 health region
Colchester County, Subdivision B’s survey area reads 13% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Colchester County, Subdivision B, 13% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%); 3.1% were over 600.
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 Colchester County, Subdivision B, 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Colchester County, Subdivision B only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Colchester County, Subdivision B
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Colchester County, Subdivision B; 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 Colchester County, Subdivision B, 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)
How Colchester County, Subdivision B’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester County, Subdivision B | Low | $0.017 | 13% | Yes |
| Truro 14,652 · 9.9 km | Low | $0.014 | 13% | Yes |
| Millbrook 27 1,122 · 13 km | Low | $0.013 | 13% | Yes |
| Colchester County, Subdivision C 14,211 · 17 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
The fire record around Colchester County, Subdivision C is a touch heavier than Colchester County, Subdivision B’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 Colchester County, Subdivision B faces
Practical steps for Colchester County, Subdivision B’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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Colchester County, Subdivision B takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Colchester County, Subdivision B’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Colchester County, Subdivision B’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Colchester County, Subdivision B.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Colchester County, Subdivision B
How is Colchester County, Subdivision B’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Colchester County, Subdivision B’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Colchester County, Subdivision B?
Expected earthquake damage in Colchester County, Subdivision B comes to $0.017 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Colchester County, Subdivision B at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Colchester County, Subdivision B’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Colchester County, Subdivision B flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Colchester County, Subdivision B; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in Colchester County, Subdivision B?
13% of the 96 homes Health Canada tested around Colchester County, Subdivision B 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).