Photo: Coastal Elite from Halifax, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Beaver Bank: 5 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Little of the land around Beaver Bank has burned: 1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.03% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Beaver Bank as in most places, at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Beaver Bank a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Beaver Bank’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Beaver Bank: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Beaver Bank faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Beaver Bank grades B− for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Beaver Bank’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
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.
Few fires near Beaver Bank: 0% within 5 km, 1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Beaver Bank’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Beaver Bank’s 0.03% is in the low band.
About as much forest grows next to Beaver Bank’s homes (75% within 5 km) as across 25 km (78%).
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
At 0.03% a year, Beaver Bank ranks 38th of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia; Barrington leads at 0.46%.
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 Beaver Bank, 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.
Flooding around Beaver Bank is mapped in 5 studies, the newest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Flood studies whose area touches Beaver Bank, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
The newest of 5 studies covering Beaver Bank is Halifax Regional Municipality’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
| Shubenacadie Lakes Floodplain Study | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2020 | final |
| Sackville River | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2017 | final |
| East Hants | Municipality of East Hants | 2013 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Beaver Bank has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2020s brought the most flood studies for Beaver Bank (3 of 5), the first dating from the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Beaver Bank.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Beaver Bank 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.
Expected shaking damage in Beaver Bank: $0.018 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in Beaver Bank, $0.018 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Beaver Bank doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Halifax.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Beaver Bank’s $0.018 is close to the median in Nova Scotia, $0.018; Clare is highest 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.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 68% of its 2,611 towns sit above Beaver Bank.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Beaver Bank’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Beaver Bank: 13% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 13% over the guideline, the area around Beaver Bank beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Beaver Bank passed 600 Bq/m³; over 200, its 13% matches the median in Nova Scotia, 13%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Beaver Bank among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
The survey sampled homes around Beaver Bank; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Zone 6 health region
Weather and fire alerts for Beaver Bank
Alerts for Beaver Bank 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 Beaver Bank 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 Beaver Bank
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver Bank | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Fall River 9,214 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Middle Sackville 14,898 · 6.1 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Lower Sackville 20,171 · 7.3 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Dutch Settlement 6,234 · 11 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Bedford 28,848 · 13 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Hammonds Plains 13,844 · 14 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Bedford burns a little more than Beaver Bank, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Beaver Bank faces
Practical steps for Beaver Bank’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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Beaver Bank’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 Beaver Bank floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Beaver Bank’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 Beaver Bank sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Beaver Bank
Does Beaver Bank flood?
Beaver Bank’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
How is Beaver Bank’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Beaver Bank B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Beaver Bank?
The area’s survey found 13% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Beaver Bank.
How big is the earthquake risk in Beaver Bank?
Expected earthquake damage in Beaver Bank comes to $0.018 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is Beaver Bank at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Beaver Bank’s low band (1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
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).