Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainFlood mapping exists for Meaghers Grant: 1 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Little of the land around Meaghers Grant has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.005% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Meaghers Grant as in most places, at $0.018 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Meaghers Grant a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Meaghers Grant’s hazards
For Meaghers Grant, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Meaghers Grant faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Meaghers Grant: B−
The grade weighs Meaghers Grant’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #47 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,724 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.
Wildfire is rare near Meaghers Grant: 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Meaghers Grant’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The land within 25 km of Meaghers Grant burns at 0.005% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Meaghers Grant’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 6.4 km away.
About as much forest grows next to Meaghers Grant’s homes (89% within 5 km) as across 25 km (87%).
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
Some fire is mapped around Meaghers Grant (0.005% a year), but it ranks only 49th of 90 towns in Nova Scotia; Barrington has 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Meaghers Grant reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Halifax Regional Municipality has mapped flooding for Meaghers Grant (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Meaghers Grant, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Halifax Regional Municipality studied flooding in an area that includes Meaghers Grant (2024); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Creation of Coastal, Pluvial, Fluvial Flood Hazard Maps for Halifax Regional Municipality | Halifax Regional Municipality | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
88% of towns in Nova Scotia have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Meaghers Grant 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 is shown for Meaghers Grant to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Meaghers Grant: $0.018 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.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: Meaghers Grant’s $0.018 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Nova Scotia: Meaghers Grant’s $0.018 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.
68% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Meaghers Grant.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Meaghers Grant is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Halifax
13% of homes tested around Meaghers Grant are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Meaghers Grant’s area, at 13%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places. For radon tests, the only official count covers all of the Zone 6 health region, Meaghers Grant included.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Meaghers Grant’s area, at 13%, is close to the median in Nova Scotia (13%); 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Meaghers Grant, 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Meaghers Grant, 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 Meaghers Grant
Alerts for Meaghers Grant 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 Meaghers Grant 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)
How Meaghers Grant’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meaghers Grant | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Musquodoboit Harbour 2,719 · 17 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
Musquodoboit Harbour burns a little more than Meaghers Grant, 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 Meaghers Grant faces
What to do about the hazards Meaghers Grant 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
- 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 Meaghers Grant.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Meaghers Grant is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Meaghers Grant’s included.
- 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 Meaghers Grant.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Meaghers Grant
How is Meaghers Grant’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Meaghers Grant grades B− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Meaghers Grant flood?
There is flood mapping for Meaghers Grant on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Meaghers Grant?
Expected earthquake damage in Meaghers Grant comes to $0.018 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Meaghers Grant?
In Health Canada’s survey, 13% of 101 homes tested in Meaghers Grant’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Meaghers Grant at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.2% of the land within 25 km of Meaghers Grant has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).