Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0North Shore faces fewer hazards than 87% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for North Shore, at 0% of the land 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 $0.020 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
Four national sources, each read for North Shore: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What North Shore faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in North Shore: A
Earthquake risk and radon make North Shore’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #4 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #519 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Little of the land around North Shore has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around North Shore’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near North Shore burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Forest fuel is spread evenly around North Shore: 24% within 5 km, 21% 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 12
Every one of the 12 towns on Prince Edward Island, North Shore 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, North Shore 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.
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
100% of towns on Prince Edward Island have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; North Shore has one too.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for North Shore.
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.
Ordinary seismic risk in North Shore: $0.020 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.7 times the typical $0.030: North Shore’s $0.020 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
North Shore’s $0.020 is close to the median on Prince Edward Island, $0.020; O'Leary is highest 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.
North Shore sits mid-range among Canada’s 2,611 towns: 64% 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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in North Shore’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).
3.5% of homes tested around North Shore are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Where the typical Canadian town has 6.6% of homes over the guideline, North Shore’s area has fewer, 3.5%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
North Shore’s area, at 3.5%, is close to the median 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.
Few tests over the guideline: North Shore 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.
The survey sampled homes around North Shore; 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 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around North Shore, and listen to local authorities for orders.
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 | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| North Shore 1,609 · 4.6 km | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Charlottetown 48,118 · 13 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Miltonvale Park 1,279 · 13 km | Low | $0.019 | 3.5% | Yes |
| East River, Part 1 2,657 · 14 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Crossroads 2,366 · 15 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Stratford 13,152 · 16 km | Low | $0.021 | 3.5% | Yes |
Among its neighbours North Shore has the most fire on record (low); North Shore follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what North Shore faces
Practical steps for North Shore’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. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; North Shore’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around North Shore’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about flooding and hazards in North Shore
How is North Shore’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
North Shore grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is North Shore at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near North Shore: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
Is radon a problem in North Shore?
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 North Shore.
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.
How big is the earthquake risk in North Shore?
In NRCan’s seismic model, North Shore’s buildings lose $0.020 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
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).