Photo: David Broad · CC BY 3.0New London faces fewer hazards than 86% of Canadian towns
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of New London’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in New London is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.021 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. Fewer homes than usual carry radon here, 3.5% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives New London a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about New London’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for New London: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What New London faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
New London grades A for hazard risk
For New London, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near New London: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where New London’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
A burn rate of 0.000% a year keeps New London in the low band (the typical Canadian town: 0.000%).
About as much forest grows next to New London’s homes (11% within 5 km) as across 25 km (11%).
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; New London 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 New London 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.
New London 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 New London, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
2 studies on the inventory touch New London, 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, New London 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.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for New London.
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 New London $0.021 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.
0.7 times the typical $0.030: New London’s $0.021 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median on Prince Edward Island is $0.020; New London, at $0.021, is right beside it, and O'Leary tops the list at $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.
Around half of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than New London (63%).
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 New London’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 New London: 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.
New London’s area, at 3.5%, is below the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, though any one home can still be high.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around New London, 3.5% of tests topped the guideline, about the same as the typical town on Prince Edward Island (3.5%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Under 5% puts New London 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.
The survey sampled homes around New London; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Prince Edward Island Health Region
Weather and fire alerts for New London
Alerts for New London 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 New London 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 New London
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New London | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kensington 2,016 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.032 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kensington, Part 1 3,357 · 8.5 km | Low | $0.029 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Malpeque Bay 1,351 · 10 km | Low | $0.027 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Kinkora 1,416 · 13 km | Low | $0.027 | 3.5% | Yes |
| New Glasgow 5,502 · 19 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
New London’s low band tops its neighbours; Kensington is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what New London faces
Practical steps for New London’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. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of New London’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for New London is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for New London.
- 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 New London’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in New London
Is radon a problem in New London?
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 New London.
Does New London flood?
There is flood mapping for New London on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How is New London’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives New London A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in New London?
Expected earthquake damage in New London comes to $0.021 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is New London at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of New London since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
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).