Hazard risk in North Shore is lower than in 86% of Canadian towns
Around North Shore, wildfire is practically absent from the record: 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in North Shore as in most places, at $0.021 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is lower than usual: 3.5% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. North Shore grades A for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about North Shore’s hazards
For North Shore, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What North Shore faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
North Shore grades A for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like North Shore with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Few fires near North Shore: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Past fire around North Shore’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Fire claims 0.000% of the land around North Shore each year, a low band, with the typical Canadian town at 0.000%.
Within 5 km of North Shore, 14% of the land is forest fuel; widen the ring to 25 km and it is 22%.
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; North Shore 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 North Shore 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.
North Shore is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for North Shore: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action - Government of Prince Edward Island and others have studied flooding in areas that include North Shore: 2 studies, the latest from 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
Its flood study puts North Shore with 100% of towns on Prince Edward Island; Canada’s share 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 North Shore’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 North Shore $0.021 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.7 times the typical $0.030: North Shore’s $0.021 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around North Shore ($0.021) 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.
Middle of the pack: 63% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than North Shore.
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 North Shore.
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 North Shore: 3.5% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Radon runs below the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in North Shore’s area, at 3.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around North Shore, 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.
North Shore is in the lowest band, with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns: under 5% of tests over the guideline, while 63% have more.
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 North Shore, 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). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Prince Edward Island Health Region
Where to get warnings in North Shore
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for North Shore; 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. |
For fires near North Shore, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around North Shore
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Shore | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
| North Shore 2,994 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Charlottetown 48,118 · 10 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Crossroads 2,366 · 10 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| East River, Part 1 2,657 · 11 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Stratford 13,152 · 13 km | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miltonvale Park 1,279 · 14 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
North Shore (low) has the heaviest fire record of North Shore’s neighbours, and North Shore (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what North Shore faces
What to do about the hazards North Shore 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for North Shore’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, North Shore takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in North Shore.
- Wildfire counts one way. For North Shore, 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 North Shore
How is North Shore’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives North Shore A, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in North Shore?
In NRCan’s seismic model, North Shore’s buildings lose $0.021 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does North Shore flood?
The inventory lists a study touching North Shore; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is radon a problem in North Shore?
In Health Canada’s survey, 3.5% of 113 homes tested in North Shore’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is North Shore at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near North Shore: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).