Photo: Elviroyage · CC BY 4.0Flood mapping exists for Lunenburg: 1 on record, latest by Town of Mahone Bay
Little of the land around Lunenburg has burned: 0.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.002% a year. For earthquakes Lunenburg is middling, $0.022 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. About as many homes carry radon around Lunenburg as elsewhere, 6.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lunenburg a grade of A−; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about Lunenburg’s hazards
For Lunenburg, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Lunenburg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Lunenburg grades A− for hazard risk
For Lunenburg, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #29 of 88 in Nova Scotia and #699 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.
Few fires near Lunenburg: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lunenburg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
In a typical year 0.002% of the land near Lunenburg burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
About as much forest grows next to Lunenburg’s homes (88% within 5 km) as across 25 km (90%).
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 Lunenburg (0.002% a year), but it ranks only 60th 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Lunenburg burns, but slower than in the 7.5% 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.
Town of Mahone Bay has mapped flooding for Lunenburg (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Lunenburg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Lunenburg the inventory points to Town of Mahone Bay’s 2016 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mahone Bay | Town of Mahone Bay | 2016 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Lunenburg 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Lunenburg 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.
Ordinary seismic risk in Lunenburg: $0.022 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.
0.7 times the typical $0.030: Lunenburg’s $0.022 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Lunenburg runs at $0.022 a year, near the $0.018 of the typical town in Nova Scotia; Clare has $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.
Lunenburg’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 61% 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).
For Lunenburg the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
6.2% of homes tested around Lunenburg are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Near the middle for radon: Lunenburg’s area 6.2%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Lunenburg, 6.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³, under the median in Nova Scotia (13%); 2.1% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon tops the guideline in a modest share of homes around Lunenburg, a band holding 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Whatever Lunenburg’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests published for the Zone 1 health region, not by town
Where to get warnings in Lunenburg
Alerts for Lunenburg 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 Lunenburg 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 Lunenburg
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunenburg | Low | $0.022 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Bridgewater 9,989 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.021 | 6.2% | None listed |
| Mahone Bay 1,200 · 11 km | Low | $0.018 | 6.2% | Yes |
| Lunenburg 2,523 · 15 km | Low | $0.018 | 6.2% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Bridgewater (low), still no more than Lunenburg (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lunenburg faces
Practical steps for Lunenburg’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
- 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 Lunenburg.
- 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 Lunenburg.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Lunenburg 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, Lunenburg’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lunenburg
Is radon a problem in Lunenburg?
The area’s survey found 6.2% of 97 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Lunenburg.
How is Lunenburg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Lunenburg’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Lunenburg flood?
There is flood mapping for Lunenburg on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Lunenburg at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Lunenburg’s low band (0.1% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2023) is short of the level that counts.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lunenburg?
About $0.022 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lunenburg.
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).