Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainA flood study covers Miminegash: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Miminegash: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 0.000% a year. Seismic risk in Miminegash sits near the middle: $0.032 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 3.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Miminegash grades A− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Miminegash’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Miminegash: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Miminegash faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Miminegash grades A− for hazard risk
For Miminegash, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Miminegash: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Miminegash’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Miminegash burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Miminegash’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 19 km away.
More forest grows near Miminegash’s homes (47% within 5 km) than across 25 km (37%).
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, Miminegash 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.
Measured against 2,610 towns, Miminegash is in the largest group, low (92%), and at its floor, while 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.
Flooding around Miminegash is mapped in 2 studies, the newest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Miminegash: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Miminegash the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island’s in 2024.
| 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
Miminegash is one of the 100% of towns on Prince Edward Island 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 Miminegash’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 Miminegash: $0.032 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Miminegash’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); Miminegash, 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.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Miminegash.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Miminegash’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
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 Miminegash: 3.5% 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 Prince Edward Island Health Region
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Miminegash’s area, at 3.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Miminegash 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.
Under 5% puts Miminegash with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 63% have more high tests.
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.
A survey sample isn’t a map: any home in Miminegash can be high, and a three-month test is the only way to know.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Miminegash
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Miminegash; 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 Miminegash, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Miminegash
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
The fire record around Tignish is a touch heavier than Miminegash’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Miminegash faces
Practical steps for Miminegash’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. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Miminegash’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 Miminegash 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 Miminegash sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Miminegash’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Miminegash
How is Miminegash’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Miminegash’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Does Miminegash flood?
Miminegash’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 radon a problem in Miminegash?
3.5% of the 113 homes Health Canada tested around Miminegash topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Miminegash?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Miminegash’s buildings lose $0.032 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Miminegash at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Miminegash’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).