Photo: Harfang · CC BY-SA 3.0A flood study covers Causapscal: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Causapscal, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.000% a year. Shaking is about as much of a worry in Causapscal as in most places, at $0.033 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Causapscal grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Causapscal’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Causapscal: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Causapscal faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Causapscal grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Causapscal, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
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.
Few fires near Causapscal: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Causapscal’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Forty years of fire maps put Causapscal at 0.000% a year, low next to the typical Canadian town’s 0.000%.
Forest thickens with distance from Causapscal: 74% of the land within 5 km, 81% 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 in Quebec · highest of 514
To three decimals the burn rate around Causapscal is zero, as for 145 of the 514 towns in Quebec, while Mistissini reaches 0.31%.
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 Causapscal 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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Causapscal (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Causapscal, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Causapscal (1995); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Causapscal | Gouvernement du Québec | 1995 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Causapscal apart in Quebec, where 45% of towns have one (Canada: 58%).
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood mapping is shown for Causapscal to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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 Causapscal: $0.033 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Causapscal’s $0.033 is close to the typical town’s $0.030 (1.1 times as much).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.033, Causapscal is below the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière is highest at $0.48.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 48% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Causapscal.
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).
The loss is to Causapscal’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon runs high around Causapscal: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
At 14% over the guideline, the area around Causapscal beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Causapscal, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.8% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Causapscal among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Causapscal only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Causapscal
Alerts for Causapscal 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 Causapscal 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 Causapscal
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Causapscal | Low | $0.033 | 14% | Yes |
| Lac-au-Saumon 1,485 · 11 km | Low | $0.040 | 14% | None listed |
| Amqui 6,059 · 19 km | Low | $0.046 | 14% | Yes |
Lac-au-Saumon (low) has the heaviest fire record of Causapscal’s neighbours, and Causapscal (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Causapscal faces
What to do about the hazards Causapscal 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
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Causapscal’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Causapscal’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- 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 Causapscal.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Causapscal is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Causapscal
Is Causapscal at risk of wildfire?
Hardly at all on record: 0% of the land within 25 km of Causapscal since 1986, a low band, though small grass fires aren’t mapped.
How is Causapscal’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Causapscal C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Causapscal flood?
There is flood mapping for Causapscal on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Causapscal?
In Health Canada’s survey, 14% of 171 homes tested in Causapscal’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
How big is the earthquake risk in Causapscal?
About $0.033 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Causapscal.
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).