Hazard risk in Les Rapides is higher than in 88% of Canadian towns
Wildfire barely registers for Les Rapides, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (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). Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Les Rapides grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Les Rapides’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Les Rapides: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Les Rapides faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Les Rapides grades D for hazard risk
For Les Rapides, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #445 of 507 in Quebec and #2,440 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 63 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Les Rapides has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Les Rapides’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Les Rapides’ 0.001% is in the low band.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Les Rapides’ homes came within 13 km, never inside 5 km.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Les Rapides: 9.3% within 5 km and 11% 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
Les Rapides burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Les Rapides 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.
Les Rapides is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Ville de Gatineau
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Les Rapides: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Les Rapides the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Ville de Gatineau’s in 2014.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ville-de-Gatineau | Ville de Gatineau | 2014 | final |
| Farmers-Hull | Gouvernement du Québec | 1978 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Les Rapides has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
No single decade dominates: 2 studies for Les Rapides between the 1970s and the 2010s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Les Rapides.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Les Rapides’ homes are at risk.
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.
High seismic risk in Les Rapides: $0.12 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Les Rapides’ $0.12 is about 4 times the typical town’s $0.030: it sits in one of Canada’s more active seismic zones.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Les Rapides’ $0.12 is close to the median 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.
Les Rapides sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 23% 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).
The loss is to Les Rapides’ 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). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Gatineau
Radon runs high around Les Rapides: 13% 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 Outaouais health region
More homes than usual test high around Les Rapides: 13% against 6.6% for the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Les Rapides (13%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 4.8% went over 600.
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, Les Rapides 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 Les Rapides only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Les Rapides
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Les Rapides; 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. |
For fires near Les Rapides, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Les Rapides’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Les Rapides | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| La Cité 30,930 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Hautes-Plaines 6,353 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Rivière-Gatineau 14,875 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Mont-Bleu 21,636 · 4.3 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Lac-des-Fées 10,075 · 6.7 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
| Du Moulin 30,364 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.12 | 13% | Yes |
Nowhere around Les Rapides burns more: La Cité, the closest rival, is low to its low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Les Rapides faces
Practical steps for Les Rapides’ 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.
- 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
- 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 Les Rapides.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Les Rapides’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Les Rapides’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Les Rapides is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Les Rapides
Is Les Rapides at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Les Rapides’ band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2021), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Les Rapides?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Les Rapides’ buildings lose $0.12 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Les Rapides’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Les Rapides grades D for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Does Les Rapides flood?
There is flood mapping for Les Rapides on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Les Rapides?
13% of the 63 homes Health Canada tested around Les Rapides topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
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).