Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Lynden: 2 on record, latest by Conservation Halton
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Lynden, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Lynden is middling, $0.044 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Lynden’s survey area, 5% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Lynden a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Lynden’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Lynden: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Lynden faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Lynden: B+
Two inputs always count for Lynden, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #494 of 866 in Ontario and #1,255 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Lynden: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Lynden’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Lynden at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around Lynden: 6.2% within 5 km, 4.3% 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 Ontario · highest of 871
Of the 871 towns in Ontario, 638 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Lynden among them; Sioux Lookout leads at 0.16% a year.
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 Lynden, 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.
Flooding around Lynden is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Conservation Halton
Flood studies whose area touches Lynden, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Lynden the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Conservation Halton’s in 2020.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halton Shoreline Flood Hazard | Conservation Halton | 2020 | final · not public |
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and Lynden is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Lynden between the 2010s and the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Lynden.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Lynden’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Lynden $0.044 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
1.5 times the typical $0.030: Lynden’s $0.044 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
About level with the typical town in Ontario: Lynden’s $0.044 against $0.043; Alexandria reaches $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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 32% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Lynden.
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 loss is to Lynden’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk published for the city of Hamilton, not by town
5% of homes tested around Lynden are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the City of Hamilton Health Unit
Around Lynden, 5% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The median in Ontario is 4% over 200 Bq/m³; the survey area around Lynden has 5%.
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 Lynden’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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Lynden as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Lynden
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Lynden; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Lynden, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Lynden
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynden | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Spring Valley 4,175 · 9.8 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Turnball 6,312 · 11 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Golf Course 3,741 · 11 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
| Shaver 2,882 · 11 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Leeming 2,849 · 11 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | Yes |
| Sulphur Springs 9,404 · 12 km | Low | $0.044 | 5% | None listed |
Spring Valley (low) has the heaviest fire record of Lynden’s neighbours, and Lynden (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Lynden faces
What to do about the hazards Lynden 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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Lynden’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Lynden’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Lynden is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Lynden.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Lynden
Is radon a problem in Lynden?
In Health Canada’s survey, 5% of 100 homes tested in Lynden’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Lynden?
About $0.044 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Lynden.
Does Lynden flood?
There is flood mapping for Lynden on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Lynden at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Lynden since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Lynden’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Lynden 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).