Photo: Larry from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada · CC BY 2.0A flood study covers Central Prince: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Central Prince’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Central Prince is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.032 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 3.5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Central Prince a grade of A−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Central Prince’s hazards
For Central Prince, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Central Prince faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Central Prince: A−
Seismic risk and radon set Central Prince’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Few fires near Central Prince: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Central Prince’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Central Prince fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Central Prince’s homes came within 16 km, never inside 5 km.
Forest crowds in on Central Prince: 51% of the land within 5 km is forest fuel, more than the 39% 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 on Prince Edward Island · highest of 13
Every one of the 13 towns on Prince Edward Island, Central Prince among them, has a yearly burn rate that rounds to 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.
Central Prince shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
Central Prince is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Flood studies whose area touches Central Prince, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch Central Prince, the newest Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island’s from 2024, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEI Pluvial Flood Mapping | Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island | 2024 | final |
| Prince Edward Island Coastal Hazards | Province of PEI, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action | 2021 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping on Prince Edward Island reaches 100% of towns, Central Prince 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Central Prince floods.
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 Central Prince $0.032 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Nothing unusual about Central Prince’s ground: $0.032 against a typical $0.030, 1.1 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk on Prince Edward Island peaks in O'Leary ($0.034); Central Prince, at $0.032, sits above the median of $0.020.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Central Prince sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 48% expect more shaking damage.
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 Central Prince.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs low around Central Prince: 3.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Central Prince’s area, at 3.5%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high. Central Prince doesn’t get its own radon tests figures; the ones here come from the Prince Edward Island Health Region.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Central Prince is ordinary for towns on Prince Edward Island: 3.5%, beside a median of 3.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few tests over the guideline: Central Prince shares the bottom band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below the other 63%.
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 Central Prince, 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).
Where to get warnings in Central Prince
Alerts for Central Prince 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. |
Evacuation orders for Central Prince come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Central Prince’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Prince | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Wellington 1,972 · 14 km | Low | $0.031 | 3.5% | Yes |
| O'Leary 2,878 · 19 km | Low | $0.034 | 3.5% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Central Prince has the most fire on record (low); Wellington follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Central Prince faces
Practical steps for Central Prince’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. 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 Central Prince.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Central Prince’s included.
- 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 Central Prince until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Central Prince without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Central Prince
Does Central Prince flood?
A flood study covers Central Prince 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 Central Prince?
The area’s survey found 3.5% of 113 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Central Prince.
How is Central Prince’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Central Prince’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
How big is the earthquake risk in Central Prince?
About $0.032 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Central Prince.
Is Central Prince at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Central Prince’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2024) is short of the level that counts.
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).