Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Listowel: 2 on record, latest by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for Listowel, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). NRCan expects $0.017 of shaking damage a year per $1,000 of buildings in Listowel, near the typical $0.030. More homes than usual carry radon here, 12% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Listowel grades B− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Listowel’s hazards
For Listowel, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Listowel faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Listowel grades B− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Listowel, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #646 of 866 in Ontario and #1,578 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.
Little of the land around Listowel has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Listowel’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Listowel burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Around Listowel the forest is thin or far off: 0.3% of the land within 5 km and 1.5% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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, Listowel 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Listowel, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
Listowel is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Listowel: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Listowel the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Maitland Valley Conservation Authority’s in 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Perth | Maitland Valley Conservation Authority | 2024 | final |
| Grand River Regulatory Floodplain | Grand River Conservation Authority | 2018 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Listowel included, beside 58% across Canada.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping around Listowel has come in steps: 2 studies from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Listowel.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Listowel’s homes are at risk.
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 Listowel: $0.017 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.017 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Listowel is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Listowel’s $0.017 sits under the median in Ontario, $0.043, and well under Alexandria’s $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.
Earthquakes cost less around Listowel than in 70% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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 Listowel.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Listowel: 12% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Listowel’s area, at 12%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Listowel than in most towns in Ontario: 12% over the guideline (4% is typical), 0.9% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: Listowel sits in a band that only 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share, with 4.6% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in Listowel, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Perth District Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Listowel
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Listowel; 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. |
For fires near Listowel, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Listowel faces
What to do about the hazards Listowel 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Listowel until then.
- 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 Listowel.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Listowel without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Listowel’s included.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Listowel
How big is the earthquake risk in Listowel?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Listowel $0.017 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Listowel at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Listowel’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Listowel’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Listowel’s Hazard risk grade is B−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is radon a problem in Listowel?
Around Listowel, 108 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Listowel flood?
A flood study covers Listowel on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
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).