Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Grand River North: 1 on record, latest by Grand River Conservation Authority
Wildfire isn’t Grand River North’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk in Grand River North sits near the middle: $0.022 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 4% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Grand River North a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Grand River North’s hazards
For Grand River North, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Grand River North faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Grand River North grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Grand River North, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #237 of 866 in Ontario and #594 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.
Wildfire is rare near Grand River North: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Grand River North’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Around Grand River North fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around Grand River North: forest fuel is 2.2% within 5 km and 4.5% 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
To three decimals the burn rate around Grand River North is zero, as for 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, while Sioux Lookout reaches 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Grand River North is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Grand River North is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Grand River Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Grand River North: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Grand River Conservation Authority studied flooding in an area that includes Grand River North (2018); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Grand River North has one too.
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 Grand River North.
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 Grand River North $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.022 per $1,000, Grand River North’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 0.7 times).
Grand River North doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Kitchener.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Below the middle in Ontario: Grand River North’s $0.022 against a median of $0.043; Alexandria has $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Grand River North (61%).
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 Grand River North 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).
Little radon around Grand River North: 4% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Radon tests for the Waterloo Health Unit
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Grand River North’s area has fewer, 4%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Grand River North’s area, at 4%, is close to the median in Ontario (4%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Radon rarely tops the guideline around Grand River North, as for 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% see more.
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 Grand River North’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 Grand River North
Alerts for Grand River North 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 Grand River North 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)
How Grand River North’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand River North | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Heritage Park 6,369 · 0.9 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Rosemount 6,169 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Idlewood 5,005 · 2.0 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Stanley Park 8,721 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Grand River South 10,723 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
| Auditorium 3,918 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.022 | 4% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Heritage Park (low), still no more than Grand River North (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Grand River North faces
What to do about the hazards Grand River North 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 Grand River North, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Grand River North.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Grand River North’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Grand River North is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Grand River North
How is Grand River North’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Grand River North grades A− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Grand River North at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Grand River North’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Does Grand River North flood?
There is flood mapping for Grand River North on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Grand River North?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Grand River North’s buildings lose $0.022 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Grand River North?
Around Grand River North, 101 survey homes were tested and 4% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
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).