Photo: Raquel. · CC BY 3.0Hazard risk in Vellore is lower than in 90% of Canadian towns
Around Vellore, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Vellore sits near the middle: $0.028 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 0% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Vellore grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Vellore’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Vellore: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Vellore faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Vellore: A
Seismic risk and radon set Vellore’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #74 of 866 in Ontario and #383 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 Vellore: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Vellore’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Vellore burns at 0.000% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Forest fuel is scarce around Vellore: 2.4% of the land within 5 km, 3.7% 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
Among the 871 towns in Ontario, Sioux Lookout burns fastest (0.16% a year); Vellore is with the 638 near zero.
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; Vellore 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.
A flood study covers Vellore, from Toronto Regional Conservation Authority: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Vellore, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
One study on the inventory touches Vellore, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority’s from 2021, and its area can be large, so it says a map exists, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Floodline Consolidation | Toronto Regional Conservation Authority | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Ontario reaches 69% of towns, Vellore 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Vellore’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.
Expected shaking damage in Vellore: $0.028 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.
With $0.028 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Vellore is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.9 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Ontario expects $0.043 a year in shaking damage; Vellore expects less, $0.028, and Alexandria the most, $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 Vellore (51%).
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 Vellore’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: one figure for all of the city of Vaughan
0% of homes tested around Vellore are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Measured across the York Regional Health Unit: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Vellore’s area has fewer, 0%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Against the typical town in Ontario (4%), the area around Vellore has fewer high tests: 0%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Vellore’s 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Vellore only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Vellore
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Vellore; 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 Vellore, 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)
How Vellore’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vellore | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Purpleville 19,918 · 2.4 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Peace Village 14,598 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Maple 20,122 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Pine Grove 13,302 · 4.0 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Vaughan Metropolitan Centre 8,484 · 4.2 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
| Edgeley 7,016 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.028 | 0% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Purpleville (low), still no more than Vellore (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Vellore faces
Practical steps for Vellore’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.
- 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Vellore’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Vellore.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Vellore takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Vellore’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Vellore
Does Vellore flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Vellore; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Vellore at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Vellore’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Vellore?
About $0.028 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Vellore.
Is radon a problem in Vellore?
0% of the 95 homes Health Canada tested around Vellore topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Vellore’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Vellore’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).