Photo: A Disappearing Act · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Middleton: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Province of Nova Scotia
Little of the land around Middleton has burned: 1.1% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.03% a year. NRCan expects $0.041 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Middleton, near the typical $0.030. Radon is about average around Middleton: 5.6% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Middleton grades B+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Middleton’s hazards
For Middleton, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Middleton faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Middleton grades B+ for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Middleton with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Middleton: 1.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Middleton’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Middleton fire takes 0.03% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 5.7 km from Middleton’s homes, none within 5 km.
The nearer ring around Middleton is less wooded (38% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (65%).
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 91
At 0.03% a year, Middleton ranks 38th of the 91 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 Middleton, 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.
Middleton is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Province of Nova Scotia
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Middleton: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Province of Nova Scotia studied flooding in an area that includes Middleton (2024); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Scotia Flood Mapping Minas Basin Area | Province of Nova Scotia | 2024 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Middleton 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 Middleton 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Middleton $0.041 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Middleton’s $0.041 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.4 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Top in Nova Scotia: Middleton’s $0.041 against a median of $0.018.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Middleton sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 43% expect more shaking damage.
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 Middleton.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
5.6% of homes tested around Middleton are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Zone 2 health region
At 5.6% over the guideline, the area around Middleton is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Fewer homes top the guideline around Middleton (5.6%) than in the typical town in Nova Scotia (13%), yet 2.8% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Middleton’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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 Middleton’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).
Where to get warnings in Middleton
Alerts for Middleton 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Middleton to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Middleton’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middleton | Low | $0.041 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision C 5,694 · 4.3 km | Moderate | $0.020 | 5.6% | Yes |
| Annapolis County, Subdivision B 5,086 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.022 | 5.6% | Yes |
Next door, Annapolis County, Subdivision B sits in a moderate fire band; Middleton is low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Middleton faces
What to do about the hazards Middleton 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. For Middleton, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Middleton’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Middleton floods.
- 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 Middleton sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Middleton
Is radon a problem in Middleton?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5.6% of 107 homes tested in Middleton’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Middleton at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 1.1% of the land within 25 km of Middleton has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
How big is the earthquake risk in Middleton?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Middleton $0.041 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Does Middleton flood?
Middleton’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 Middleton’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Middleton B+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).