Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Austinville: 2 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Some 2.5% of the land within 25 km of Austinville has burned since 1986; at 0.06% a year that is moderate, not high. Seismic risk in Austinville sits near the middle: $0.018 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Austinville a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Austinville’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Austinville: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Austinville faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Austinville: B−
Two inputs always count for Austinville, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #47 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,724 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
A moderate wildfire record for Austinville: 2.5% within 25 km burned, 0.2% within 5 km
Past fire around Austinville’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Austinville burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Within 5 km of Austinville, 19% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 73%.
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 burns fastest in Nova Scotia at 0.46% a year; Austinville, at 0.06%, ranks 10th of 90.
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.
Austinville is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% 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.
2 flood studies cover Austinville, the newest from Halifax Regional Municipality
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Austinville: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Austinville the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Halifax Regional Municipality’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
| Shubenacadie Lakes Floodplain Study | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2020 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Austinville has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Austinville’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.
Expected shaking damage in Austinville: $0.018 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.018 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Austinville is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Nova Scotia is $0.018; Austinville, at $0.018, is right beside it, and Clare tops the list at $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.
Austinville is in the lower part of Canada’s range for earthquake risk; 68% 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).
The model counts damage to Austinville’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Area behind the earthquake risk figures: the city of Halifax
Test for radon in Austinville: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Zone 6 health region
At 13% over the guideline, the area around Austinville beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Ordinary for towns in Nova Scotia at 13% over 200 Bq/m³ (13% is the median), the area around Austinville had 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Austinville is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% are 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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Austinville 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 Austinville
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Austinville; 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 Austinville come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Austinville
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austinville | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Manor Park 14,148 · 2.6 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 2.8 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Windsor Park 13,044 · 3.2 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Schmidtville 18,105 · 4.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Woodlawn 20,925 · 4.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Fairview 16,296 · 5.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
The fire record around Manor Park is a touch heavier than Austinville’s, but the band is the same: moderate (here moderate).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Austinville faces
What to do about the hazards Austinville faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Austinville’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Austinville floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Austinville’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Austinville sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Austinville
How is Austinville’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Austinville grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Austinville?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Austinville $0.018 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Austinville flood?
Austinville’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 Austinville?
Around Austinville, 101 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Austinville at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.5% of the land around Austinville since 1986 (last in 2025); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts 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).