Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Riverside: 2 on record, latest by Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
Little of the land around Riverside has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.008% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Riverside as in most places, at $0.019 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). More homes than usual carry radon here, 14% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Riverside grades C+ for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Riverside’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Riverside: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What 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 Riverside: C+
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Riverside with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Riverside has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Riverside’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Riverside burns at 0.008% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Riverside’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 11 km off.
Around Riverside the forest is thin or far off: 0.4% of the land within 5 km and 0.2% within 25 km is forest fuel.
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
The land around Riverside burns at 0.008% a year, the 26th highest rate of 871 towns in Ontario; Sioux Lookout tops it 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Riverside among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
2 flood studies cover Riverside, the newest from Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Riverside: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Riverside the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Essex Region Conservation Authority / County of Essex’s in 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
Riverside 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.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Riverside’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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Riverside $0.019 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Riverside’s $0.019 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (0.6 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Ontario peaks in Alexandria ($0.21); Riverside, 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 Riverside.
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 Riverside’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). · Not measured by town: earthquake risk (the city of Windsor)
Radon runs high around Riverside: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
A higher share than most: 14% of tested homes around Riverside, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon runs higher around Riverside than in most towns in Ontario: 14% 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.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Riverside, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 Riverside as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Riverside
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Riverside, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Riverside
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Windsor 20,876 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| East Riverside 15,758 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Fontainebleau 11,567 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| Forest Glade 21,328 · 3.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
| South Walkerville 6,129 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | None listed |
| Walkerville 19,541 · 5.7 km | Low | $0.019 | 14% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Riverside has the most fire on record (low); Walkerville follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Riverside faces
What to do about the hazards Riverside 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. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Riverside’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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 Riverside until then.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Riverside’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Riverside without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Riverside
How is Riverside’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Riverside C+, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Riverside at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.2% of the land around Riverside since 1986 (last in 2010); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Riverside flood?
A flood study covers Riverside on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
Is radon a problem in Riverside?
Around Riverside, 195 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Riverside?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Riverside’s buildings lose $0.019 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).