Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0North Stormont is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Raisin Region Conservation Authority
Wildfire barely registers for North Stormont, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.20 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around North Stormont as elsewhere, 6.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives North Stormont a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about North Stormont’s hazards
For North Stormont, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What North Stormont faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
North Stormont grades C for hazard risk
For North Stormont, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #835 of 866 in Ontario and #2,073 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 North Stormont: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around North Stormont’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around North Stormont burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around North Stormont: 5.4% within 5 km and 6.6% 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
Near-zero burning puts North Stormont 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, North Stormont 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.
A flood study covers North Stormont, from Raisin Region Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for North Stormont: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Raisin Region Conservation Authority holds the flood mapping that covers North Stormont (1987), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flood Plain Mapping Study - Main and North Branches Raisin River | Raisin Region Conservation Authority | 1987 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; North Stormont has one too.
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 North Stormont 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 North Stormont’s costliest hazard: $0.20 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
North Stormont’s $0.20 is about 6.8 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
North Stormont’s $0.20 tops the median in Ontario, $0.043, though 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.
North Stormont is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 8.4% rank higher.
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 North Stormont 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).
6.1% of homes tested around North Stormont are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the The Eastern Ontario Health Unit
The survey area of North Stormont reads 6.1%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around North Stormont (6.1%) than in the typical town in Ontario (4%); 1% went 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: North Stormont, 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.
A low area share in North Stormont doesn’t clear a house, nor does a high one condemn it: test.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in North Stormont
Alerts for North Stormont 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for North Stormont to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How North Stormont’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
None of the places around has more fire nearby than North Stormont (low); Casselman comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what North Stormont faces
Practical steps for North Stormont’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
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, North Stormont’s included.
- 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 North Stormont.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for North Stormont 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 North Stormont.
Questions about flooding and hazards in North Stormont
How is North Stormont’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
North Stormont’s Hazard risk grade is C, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is North Stormont at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of North Stormont since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How big is the earthquake risk in North Stormont?
In NRCan’s seismic model, North Stormont’s buildings lose $0.20 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in North Stormont?
6.1% of the 99 homes Health Canada tested around North Stormont topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Does North Stormont flood?
There is flood mapping for North Stormont on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them 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).