Photo: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0Hazard risk in Three Rivers is lower than in 85% of Canadian towns
For Three Rivers, wildfire history is close to nil: 0% of nearby land since 1986, 0.000% a year. Earthquake risk in Three Rivers is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.022 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, just 3.5% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Three Rivers a grade of A, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Three Rivers’s hazards
For Three Rivers, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Three Rivers faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Three Rivers: A
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Three Rivers with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #9 of 12 on Prince Edward Island and #571 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Three Rivers: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Three Rivers’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Three Rivers’ 0.000% is in the low band.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Three Rivers: 49% within 5 km and 45% 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
None of the 12 towns on Prince Edward Island has a burn rate above zero to three decimals; Three Rivers 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 Three Rivers 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.
Flooding around Three Rivers 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 Three Rivers: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Three Rivers, 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
Three Rivers 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 Three Rivers 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.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Three Rivers $0.022 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Nothing unusual about Three Rivers’ ground: $0.022 against a typical $0.030, 0.7 times.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median on Prince Edward Island is $0.020; Three Rivers, at $0.022, 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.
Three Rivers’ earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 61% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Three Rivers is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
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 Three Rivers: 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
Three Rivers’ 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
Radon around Three Rivers 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.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Three Rivers; 63% sit higher.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Three Rivers can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Three Rivers
Alerts for Three Rivers 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 Three Rivers 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 Three Rivers
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Rivers | Low | $0.022 | 3.5% | Yes |
| Murray River, Part 1 1,638 · 16 km | Low | $0.020 | 3.5% | Yes |
Three Rivers’ low band tops its neighbours; Murray River, Part 1 is next (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Three Rivers faces
What to do about the hazards Three Rivers 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Three Rivers takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Three Rivers’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- 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 Three Rivers.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Three Rivers, 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 Three Rivers
How big is the earthquake risk in Three Rivers?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Three Rivers $0.022 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is radon a problem in Three Rivers?
Around Three Rivers, 113 survey homes were tested and 3.5% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Is Three Rivers at risk of wildfire?
The burned-area record shows next to nothing around Three Rivers (0% within 25 km since 1986), so its band is low.
How is Three Rivers’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Three Rivers grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Three Rivers flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Three Rivers; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the 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).