Photo: A Disappearing Act · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Mount Royale: 1 on record, latest by Halifax Regional Municipality
Fire reaches the land around Mount Royale now and then: 2.2% within 25 km since 1986 (0.06% a year), below the high band. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Mount Royale 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 Mount Royale a grade of B−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Mount Royale’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Mount Royale: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Mount Royale faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Mount Royale: B−
For Mount Royale, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Fire reaches the land around Mount Royale: 1.4% within 5 km, 2.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Mount Royale’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The yearly burn rate around Mount Royale is 0.06%, above 0.000% for the typical Canadian town but under the high band.
The nearer ring around Mount Royale is less wooded (39% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (71%).
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
Mount Royale ranks 23rd of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia for burn rate, at 0.06% a year; Barrington leads with 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.
Only 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns share the moderate band with Mount Royale, and 2.1% sit 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.
Halifax Regional Municipality has mapped flooding for Mount Royale (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Mount Royale: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
One study on the inventory touches Mount Royale, Halifax Regional Municipality’s from 2024, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| 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
Mount Royale is one of the 88% of towns in Nova Scotia with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
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 Mount Royale’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 Mount Royale: $0.018 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Mount Royale’s $0.018 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Mount Royale ($0.018) matches the middle in Nova Scotia ($0.018), far from Clare’s $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 Mount Royale than in 68% 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 model counts damage to Mount Royale’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
13% of homes tested around Mount Royale are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Zone 6 health region: radon tests
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Mount Royale’s area, at 13%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
1% of tests around Mount Royale 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.
4.6% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Mount Royale, in the 10–20% band with 22%.
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 Mount Royale 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 Mount Royale
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Mount Royale; 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 Mount Royale, 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)
Hazards in the places around Mount Royale
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Royale | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Fairview 16,296 · 1.5 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Clayton Park West 34,404 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Westmount 23,207 · 3.0 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| Windsor Park 13,044 · 3.4 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| North End 19,733 · 4.7 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
| South End 22,012 · 5.3 km | Moderate | $0.018 | 13% | Yes |
South End burns a little more than Mount Royale, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Mount Royale faces
Practical steps for Mount Royale’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Mount Royale’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Mount Royale without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Mount Royale’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Mount Royale until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Mount Royale
Is radon a problem in Mount Royale?
The area’s survey found 13% of 101 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Mount Royale.
How is Mount Royale’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Mount Royale’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Mount Royale at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Mount Royale’s moderate band (2.2% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Mount Royale flood?
A flood study covers Mount Royale on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Mount Royale?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Mount Royale’s buildings lose $0.018 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).