Photo: Doktor Ellis · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Morrisburg: 1 on record, latest by South Nation Conservation
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Morrisburg’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.18 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon around Morrisburg is ordinary for Canada: 6.1% of tested homes over the guideline (6.6% typical). Morrisburg grades C+ for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Morrisburg’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Morrisburg: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Morrisburg faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Morrisburg grades C+ for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Morrisburg’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #819 of 866 in Ontario and #2,043 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.
Wildfire is rare near Morrisburg: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Morrisburg’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Morrisburg fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Homes in Morrisburg sit on open or built-up ground (4% forest fuel within 5 km); the wider 25 km holds 6%.
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
Near-zero burning puts Morrisburg with 638 of the 871 towns in Ontario, far below Sioux Lookout 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; Morrisburg 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.
Morrisburg is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by South Nation Conservation
Flood studies whose area touches Morrisburg, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
South Nation Conservation holds the flood mapping that covers Morrisburg (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
Morrisburg is one of the 69% of towns in Ontario with a flood study on file; across Canada it is 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Morrisburg to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Shaking is Morrisburg’s costliest hazard: $0.18 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Morrisburg’s $0.18 is about 6 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Ontario: Morrisburg’s $0.18 against a median of $0.043, with Alexandria highest at $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: 13% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Morrisburg.
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 model counts damage to Morrisburg’s buildings and their occupants from shaking only: not liquefaction, landslides, tsunami or fires after a quake.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Morrisburg: 6.1% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Morrisburg’s area, at 6.1%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Morrisburg than in most towns in Ontario: 6.1% over the guideline (4% is typical), 1% over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Morrisburg, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% are higher.
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 Morrisburg as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Data for radon tests covers the The Eastern Ontario Health Unit
Weather and fire alerts for Morrisburg
Alerts for Morrisburg 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 Morrisburg 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)
How Morrisburg’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morrisburg | Low | $0.18 | 6.1% | Yes |
| Cardinal 7,952 · 18 km | Low | $0.13 | 19% | Yes |
Morrisburg’s low band tops its neighbours; Cardinal is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Morrisburg faces
Practical steps for Morrisburg’s hazards, most pressing first.
- 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
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Morrisburg’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Morrisburg is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Morrisburg’s.
- 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 Morrisburg.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Morrisburg
Does Morrisburg flood?
There is flood mapping for Morrisburg on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Morrisburg?
6.1% of the 99 homes Health Canada tested around Morrisburg topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Morrisburg?
Expected earthquake damage in Morrisburg comes to $0.18 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
How is Morrisburg’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Morrisburg grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Morrisburg at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Morrisburg (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
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).