Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Flood mapping exists for Inverness County, Subdivision A: 1 on record, latest by Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs
Burn scars are few around Inverness County, Subdivision A, with 0% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is less of a worry than in most places, at $0.011 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 14% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Inverness County, Subdivision A grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Inverness County, Subdivision A’s hazards
For Inverness County, Subdivision A, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Inverness County, Subdivision A faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Inverness County, Subdivision A grades B− for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Inverness County, Subdivision A with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #39 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #1,603 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.
Little of the land around Inverness County, Subdivision A has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Inverness County, Subdivision A’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Inverness County, Subdivision A at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Inverness County, Subdivision A: 56% of the land within 5 km, 66% 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
Near-zero burning puts Inverness County, Subdivision A with 4 of the 90 towns in Nova Scotia, far below Barrington 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Inverness County, Subdivision A, burning rounds to zero.
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.
Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs has mapped flooding for Inverness County, Subdivision A (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Inverness County, Subdivision A, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs holds the flood mapping that covers Inverness County, Subdivision A (2020), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margaree River | Nova Scotia Department of Municipal Affairs | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Inverness County, Subdivision A 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Inverness County, Subdivision A 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.
Little shaking expected in Inverness County, Subdivision A: $0.011 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.
0.4 times the typical $0.030: Inverness County, Subdivision A’s $0.011 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Nova Scotia expects $0.018 a year in shaking damage; Inverness County, Subdivision A expects less, $0.011, and Clare the most, $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.
85% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Inverness County, Subdivision A.
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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Inverness County, Subdivision A.
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 Inverness County, Subdivision A: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
More homes than usual test high around Inverness County, Subdivision A: 14% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Inverness County, Subdivision A’s area, at 14%, is close to the median in Nova Scotia (13%); 6.5% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Inverness County, Subdivision A 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.
A low area share in Inverness County, Subdivision A doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Zone 5 health region
Where to get warnings in Inverness County, Subdivision A
Alerts for Inverness County, Subdivision A 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 Inverness County, Subdivision A 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)
Get ready for what Inverness County, Subdivision A faces
What to do about the hazards Inverness County, Subdivision A 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
- 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 Inverness County, Subdivision A.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Inverness County, Subdivision A’s included.
- 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 Inverness County, Subdivision A.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Inverness County, Subdivision A is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Inverness County, Subdivision A
Is radon a problem in Inverness County, Subdivision A?
Around Inverness County, Subdivision A, 92 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Inverness County, Subdivision A flood?
There is flood mapping for Inverness County, Subdivision A on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is Inverness County, Subdivision A’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Inverness County, Subdivision A’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Inverness County, Subdivision A at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Inverness County, Subdivision A since 1986 (last in 2018); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Inverness County, Subdivision A?
Expected earthquake damage in Inverness County, Subdivision A comes to $0.011 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).