Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Around Percé, 25% of tested homes have radon above the guideline
Wildfire isn’t Percé’s worry: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (0.000% a year). Shaking is about as much of a worry in Percé as in most places, at $0.016 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Hazard risk gives Percé a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Percé’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Percé: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Percé faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Percé grades C for hazard risk
For Percé, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #135 of 507 in Quebec and #2,079 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Percé has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Percé’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.000% of the land near Percé burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Percé’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 12 km away.
There is forest near Percé’s homes (80% within 5 km) and more of it further out (86% 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
Little or nothing burns around Percé in a typical year; 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec share that, and Mistissini leads at 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.
Like most of Canada’s 2,610 towns (92%), Percé is in the low band, with a burn rate of zero to three decimals; 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.
A flood study covers Percé, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Percé: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Percé the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 2008 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Percé | Gouvernement du Québec | 2008 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Its flood study sets Percé 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 studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Percé.
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 Percé $0.016 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.5 times the typical $0.030: Percé’s $0.016 is ordinary.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.016, Percé 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.
Earthquakes cost less around Percé than in 71% of Canada’s 2,611 towns.
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).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Percé’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Percé: 25% of area homes were over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Measured across the Gaspesie - Iles-de-la-Madeleine health region: radon tests
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Percé’s area has 25%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Percé (25%) than in the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 3.4% went over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Percé is in the 20–30% band, which holds only 3.1% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 1.5% are 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Percé as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Percé
Alerts for Percé 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 Percé to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Percé’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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percé | Low | $0.016 | 25% | Yes |
| Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé 1,009 · 17 km | Low | $0.015 | 25% | None listed |
Among its neighbours Percé has the most fire on record (low); Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Percé faces
Practical steps for Percé’s 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.
- 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Percé floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Percé’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Percé sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Percé’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Percé
How big is the earthquake risk in Percé?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Percé’s buildings lose $0.016 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Percé flood?
Percé’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is radon a problem in Percé?
25% of the 174 homes Health Canada tested around Percé topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How is Percé’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Percé grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Percé at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Percé’s band is low, with 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
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).