Photo: Gaétan Veillette · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Contrecoeur: 2 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire is rare near Contrecoeur: 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.12 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Contrecoeur’s survey area, 8.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Contrecoeur a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Contrecoeur’s hazards
For Contrecoeur, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Contrecoeur faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Contrecoeur grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Contrecoeur, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #145 of 507 in Quebec and #2,091 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.
Few fires near Contrecoeur: 0% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km
Past fire around Contrecoeur’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Contrecoeur burns at 0.001% a year, low against 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Contrecoeur: 8.2% within 5 km and 4.9% 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 513
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Contrecoeur ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% a year.
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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Contrecoeur reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
Contrecoeur is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Contrecoeur: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Contrecoeur, the newest Gouvernement du Québec’s from 1996, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
| Sorel-Chambly | Gouvernement du Québec | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Contrecoeur has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 2 studies touching Contrecoeur are spread over time, from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Contrecoeur.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Contrecoeur 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.
Shaking is Contrecoeur’s costliest hazard: $0.12 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.12 per $1,000, Contrecoeur carries roughly 4 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk around Contrecoeur ($0.12) matches the middle in Quebec ($0.14), far from La Pocatière’s $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.
23% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Contrecoeur, which places it in the upper third.
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 Contrecoeur.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.2% of homes tested around Contrecoeur are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Monteregie health region
Around Contrecoeur, 8.2% of tested homes topped the guideline, near the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Contrecoeur is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 8.2%, 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.
Contrecoeur is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Contrecoeur’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Contrecoeur
Alerts for Contrecoeur 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 Contrecoeur 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)
How Contrecoeur’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contrecoeur | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Roch-de-Richelieu 2,984 · 5.6 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Lavaltrie 15,996 · 5.8 km | Low | $0.15 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Ours 1,817 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu 1,880 · 8.7 km | Low | $0.17 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu 2,439 · 10.0 km | Low | $0.16 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Lanoraie 5,694 · 11 km | Low | $0.13 | 3.9% | Yes |
The fire record around Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu is a touch heavier than Contrecoeur’s, but the band is the same: low (here low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Contrecoeur faces
What to do about the hazards Contrecoeur 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Contrecoeur’s included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Contrecoeur is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Contrecoeur.
- 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 Contrecoeur.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Contrecoeur
How is Contrecoeur’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Contrecoeur grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Contrecoeur at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0.1% of the land within 25 km of Contrecoeur has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Contrecoeur?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Contrecoeur’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Contrecoeur flood?
There is flood mapping for Contrecoeur on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Contrecoeur?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Contrecoeur’s buildings lose $0.12 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).