Photo: Neil and Kathy Carey from Edmonton, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Morell faces fewer hazards than 89% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Morell, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Morell as in most places, at $0.017 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 3.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Morell a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Morell’s hazards
For Morell, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Morell faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Morell grades A for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Morell’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.
Wildfire is rare near Morell: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Morell’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps Morell in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
The nearer ring around Morell is less wooded (34% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (44%).
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
None of the 13 towns on Prince Edward Island has a burn rate above zero to three decimals; Morell is no exception.
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 holds 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, and Morell sits at its very bottom; only 7.5% are above it.
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 Morell, the newest from Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Morell: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 2 studies covering Morell is Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island’s, from 2024; open its map to see the zones.
| 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
Morell 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.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Morell 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.
Expected shaking damage in Morell: $0.017 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Morell’s ground: $0.017 against a typical $0.030, 0.6 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Morell ($0.017) matches the middle on Prince Edward Island ($0.020), far from O'Leary’s $0.034.
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: 70% of its 2,611 towns sit above Morell.
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 Morell.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
3.5% of homes tested around Morell are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Prince Edward Island Health Region: radon tests
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, Morell’s area has fewer, 3.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town on Prince Edward Island has 3.5% over 200 Bq/m³; Morell’s area has 3.5%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have a higher share of homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Morell’s band, which holds 37%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Morell’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Morell
Alerts for Morell 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 Morell 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)
Hazards in the places around Morell
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morell | Low | $0.017 | 3.5% | Yes |
| East River, Part 1 2,657 · 16 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
Morell’s low band tops its neighbours; East River, Part 1 is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Morell faces
Practical steps for Morell’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
- 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 Morell until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Morell without grading them.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Morell’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Morell, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Morell
Does Morell flood?
A flood study covers Morell on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Morell?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Morell’s buildings lose $0.017 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Morell at risk of wildfire?
Very little by the national record: Morell’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
Is radon a problem in Morell?
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 Morell.
How is Morell’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Morell’s Hazard risk grade is A, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).