Photo: Mario Hains · CC BY-SA 3.0Cleveland is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Cleveland’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). For earthquakes Cleveland is middling, $0.041 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Cleveland’s survey area, 7.3% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Cleveland a grade of B, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Cleveland’s hazards
For Cleveland, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Cleveland faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Cleveland grades B for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Cleveland 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. Only 55 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Cleveland: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Cleveland’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Cleveland burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Cleveland’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 19 km off.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Cleveland: 25% within 5 km and 29% 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
Among the 514 towns in Quebec, Mistissini burns fastest (0.31% a year); Cleveland is with the 145 near 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.
Only 7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are above the low band, which holds 92%; Cleveland, at a rounded zero, is far from them.
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.
A flood study covers Cleveland, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Cleveland, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Cleveland (1981); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond-Lennoxville | Gouvernement du Québec | 1981 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Cleveland has one.
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 Cleveland.
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 Cleveland $0.041 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.
With $0.041 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Cleveland is about even with the typical $0.030 (1.4 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The typical town in Quebec expects $0.14 a year in shaking damage; Cleveland expects less, $0.041, and La Pocatière the most, $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.
Middle of the pack: 43% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Cleveland.
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 Cleveland.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Some radon around Cleveland: 7.3% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Cleveland’s area, at 7.3%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town. Figures for radon tests are published for the Estrie health region as a whole, not for Cleveland alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Cleveland is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 7.3%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
A middling share of high tests puts Cleveland with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, below 26% of them.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Cleveland’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Cleveland
Alerts for Cleveland 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Cleveland are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Cleveland
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | Low | $0.041 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Richmond 3,419 · 2.6 km | Low | $0.056 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Melbourne 1,128 · 5.3 km | Low | $0.043 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey 1,550 · 14 km | Low | $0.071 | 0% | None listed |
| Windsor 5,368 · 15 km | Low | $0.044 | 7.3% | Yes |
| Durham-Sud 1,041 · 16 km | Low | $0.067 | 0% | None listed |
| Danville 3,944 · 16 km | Low | $0.049 | 7.3% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Cleveland (low); Richmond comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Cleveland faces
What to do about the hazards Cleveland 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 Cleveland’s 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 Cleveland.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Cleveland, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Cleveland takes its 2007 health region’s share.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Cleveland
How is Cleveland’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Cleveland grades B for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Cleveland flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Cleveland; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Cleveland?
About $0.041 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Cleveland.
Is radon a problem in Cleveland?
In Health Canada’s survey, 7.3% of 55 homes tested in Cleveland’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Is Cleveland at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Cleveland has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
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).