Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for East Riverside: 2 on record, latest by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Fire seldom reaches East Riverside: since 1986, 0.2% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.007% a year). For earthquakes East Riverside is middling, $0.019 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). East Riverside grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about East Riverside’s hazards
For East Riverside, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What East Riverside faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in East Riverside: C+
For East Riverside, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around East Riverside has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where East Riverside’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), East Riverside’s 0.007% is in the low band.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to East Riverside’s homes came within 14 km, never inside 5 km.
Land that isn’t forest covers nearly all the ground around East Riverside: forest fuel is 0.5% within 5 km and 0.2% 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
East Riverside ranks 32nd of the 871 towns in Ontario for burn rate, at 0.007% a year; Sioux Lookout leads with 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.
East Riverside 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.
East Riverside is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Flood studies whose area touches East Riverside, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex and others have studied flooding in areas that include East Riverside: 2 studies, the latest from 2024.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Region | Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex | 2024 | final |
| Little River Watershed Floodplain Mapping | City of Windsor | 2020 | final · not public |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are common in Ontario: 69% of towns have one, against 58% nationally, and East Riverside is among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of East Riverside’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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 East Riverside: $0.019 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Earthquake losses in East Riverside, $0.019 per $1,000, are in line with the typical $0.030 (0.6 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
East Riverside’s $0.019 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 East Riverside than in 66% 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 East Riverside.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Data for earthquake risk covers the city of Windsor
Test for radon in East Riverside: 14% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
East Riverside’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around East Riverside, 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.
East Riverside is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% 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.
Radon varies from house to house in East Riverside, 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). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit)
Where to get warnings in East Riverside
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for East Riverside; 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 East Riverside, 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)
Hazards in the places around East Riverside
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Riverside | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Forest Glade 21,328 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Riverside 21,828 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Tecumseh 25,554 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Fontainebleau 11,567 · 5.1 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Windsor 20,876 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Walkerville 6,129 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
Riverside burns a little more than East Riverside, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what East Riverside faces
Practical steps for East Riverside’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
- Wildfire counts one way. For East Riverside, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 East Riverside until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for East Riverside’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for East Riverside without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in East Riverside
Is East Riverside at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: East Riverside’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2010), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in East Riverside?
14% of the 195 homes Health Canada tested around East Riverside topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in East Riverside?
About $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for East Riverside.
How is East Riverside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
East Riverside grades C+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does East Riverside flood?
A flood study covers East Riverside 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).