Photo: Yanik Crépeau · CC BY-SA 3.0Hazard risk in Laval-des-Rapides is higher than in 93% of Canadian towns
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Laval-des-Rapides, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.21 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. In Health Canada’s survey, 12% of homes tested in the area exceeded 200 Bq/m³ (6.6% typical). Hazard risk gives Laval-des-Rapides a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Laval-des-Rapides’s hazards
For Laval-des-Rapides, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Laval-des-Rapides faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Laval-des-Rapides grades D for hazard risk
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Laval-des-Rapides with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #485 of 507 in Quebec and #2,507 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.
Little of the land around Laval-des-Rapides has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Laval-des-Rapides’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Low: the land around Laval-des-Rapides burns at 0.001% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Laval-des-Rapides’ homes have had no fire within 5 km since 1986; the closest was 13 km away.
Forest makes up 0.4% of the land within 5 km of Laval-des-Rapides and 2.1% within 25 km, little for a forest fire to run through.
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%): Laval-des-Rapides 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.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Laval-des-Rapides stays low, with 92%.
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.
No flood study is listed for Laval-des-Rapides
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Laval-des-Rapides: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Laval-des-Rapides, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Laval-des-Rapides has no flood study on file; only 45% of towns in Quebec do, against 58% across Canada.
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 Laval-des-Rapides 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.”
High seismic risk in Laval-des-Rapides: $0.21 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Laval-des-Rapides loses $0.21, 6.9 times as much.
Laval-des-Rapides doesn’t get its own earthquake risk figures; the ones here come from the city of Laval.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.21, Laval-des-Rapides is above the typical town in Quebec ($0.14); La Pocatière has the most 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.
Laval-des-Rapides is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 7.9% rank 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).
What a quake does after the shaking, fire, landslides, tsunami, falls outside NRCan’s figure for Laval-des-Rapides.
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 Laval-des-Rapides: 12% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Laval-des-Rapides’ survey area reads 12% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Laval-des-Rapides (12%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 0.9% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
One test in ten or more tops the guideline around Laval-des-Rapides, as in 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 4.6% go 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 Laval-des-Rapides 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Laval health region
Where to get warnings in Laval-des-Rapides
Alerts for Laval-des-Rapides 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Laval-des-Rapides to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Laval-des-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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laval-des-Rapides | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Pont-Viau 14,608 · 2.2 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Nouveau-Bordeaux 30,171 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Chomedey 81,813 · 3.1 km | Low | $0.21 | 12% | None listed |
| Cartierville 24,617 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Sault-au-Récollet 25,464 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Nicolas-Viel 19,361 · 3.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
The neighbour with the most fire is Pont-Viau (low), still no more than Laval-des-Rapides (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Laval-des-Rapides faces
What to do about the hazards Laval-des-Rapides 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- 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, Laval-des-Rapides’ included.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Laval-des-Rapides 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 Laval-des-Rapides.
- 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 Laval-des-Rapides.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Laval-des-Rapides
Does Laval-des-Rapides flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Laval-des-Rapides’ flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
Is radon a problem in Laval-des-Rapides?
Around Laval-des-Rapides, 107 survey homes were tested and 12% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Laval-des-Rapides?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Laval-des-Rapides $0.21 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
Is Laval-des-Rapides at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Laval-des-Rapides since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How is Laval-des-Rapides’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Laval-des-Rapides D, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
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).