Photo: Squirrelwhisperer · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Cardinal is higher than in 94% of Canadian towns
For Cardinal, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.13 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is higher than usual: 19% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Cardinal a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cardinal’s hazards
For Cardinal, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cardinal faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cardinal grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cardinal with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #2,524 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Few fires near Cardinal: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around Cardinal’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.000% of the land a year, Cardinal’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
About as much forest grows next to Cardinal’s homes (12% within 5 km) as across 25 km (10%).
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 Ontario · highest of 871
Fire has taken almost none of the land around Cardinal, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops the list at 0.16%.
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.
92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are in the low band and 7.5% above it; Cardinal is among the many where the yearly burn rate 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.
A flood study covers Cardinal, from South Nation Conservation: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Cardinal: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
South Nation Conservation holds the flood mapping that covers Cardinal (2024), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flood Mapping for the South Branch of the South Nation River | South Nation Conservation | 2024 | under review · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study puts Cardinal with 69% of towns in Ontario; 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Cardinal.
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.
High seismic risk in Cardinal: $0.13 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.13 per $1,000, Cardinal carries roughly 4.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year; Cardinal expects $0.13, and Alexandria $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 22% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Cardinal.
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 Cardinal.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Cardinal: 19% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit: radon tests
More homes than usual test high around Cardinal: 19% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Cardinal than in most towns in Ontario: 19% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1.9% over 600.
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 Cardinal, 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Cardinal’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cardinal
Alerts for Cardinal 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Cardinal are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cardinal
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal | Low | $0.13 | 19% | Yes |
| Prescott 4,342 · 14 km | Low | $0.10 | 19% | None listed |
| Morrisburg 11,943 · 18 km | Low | $0.18 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Augusta 7,767 · 19 km | Low | $0.11 | 19% | Yes |
Prescott (low) has the heaviest fire record of Cardinal’s neighbours, and Cardinal (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cardinal faces
What to do about the hazards Cardinal 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Cardinal floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Cardinal’s included.
- 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 Cardinal sits in.
- 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 Cardinal.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cardinal
Is radon a problem in Cardinal?
In Health Canada’s survey, 19% of 108 homes tested in Cardinal’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cardinal?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Cardinal’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Cardinal at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Cardinal’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Cardinal’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cardinal’s Hazard risk grade is D, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Cardinal flood?
Cardinal’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
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).