Photo: Bohao Zhao · CC BY 3.0City Centre is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Little of the land around City Centre has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.009% a year. For earthquakes City Centre is middling, $0.019 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 14% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives City Centre a grade of C+; its wildfire band pulls it down.
What stands out about City Centre’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for City Centre: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What City Centre faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in City Centre: C+
Two inputs always count for City Centre, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #682 of 866 in Ontario and #1,870 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around City Centre has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around City Centre’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.009% of the land around City Centre each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
The 5 km ring around City Centre’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 5.1 km out.
Little near City Centre’s homes can carry a forest fire; only 0% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, and 0.3% 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
In the top quarter in Ontario: City Centre ranks 24th of 871 at 0.009% a year, with Sioux Lookout first 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.
City Centre is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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 City Centre, from Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for City Centre: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For City Centre the inventory points to Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex’s 2024 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Region | Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex | 2024 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and City Centre is among them.
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 City Centre.
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 City Centre: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.6 times the typical $0.030: City Centre’s $0.019 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); City Centre, at $0.019, is below the median of $0.043.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Toward the quiet end of Canada’s range: 66% of its 2,611 towns sit above City Centre.
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 City Centre’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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Windsor
14% of homes tested around City Centre 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 Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
At 14% over the guideline, the area around City Centre beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around City Centre, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
More high tests than most: City Centre 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in City Centre only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for City Centre
Alerts for City Centre 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 City Centre to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around City Centre
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Centre | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| River West 13,940 · 1.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Central 10,392 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
| Walkerville 19,541 · 1.9 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Cameron 11,804 · 3.3 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
| Sandwich 14,110 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Walkerville 6,129 · 3.8 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than City Centre (low); River West comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what City Centre faces
What to do about the hazards City Centre 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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of City Centre’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 City Centre’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in City Centre floods.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region City Centre sits in.
Questions about flooding and hazards in City Centre
Does City Centre flood?
City Centre’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is City Centre at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around City Centre since 1986 (last in 2010); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in City Centre?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in City Centre $0.019 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is City Centre’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
City Centre grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in City Centre?
Around City Centre, 195 survey homes were tested and 14% 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).