Photo: Donat-C. Noiseux · Public domainHigh radon around Pointe-à-la-Croix: 25% of homes tested in the area exceed 200 Bq/m³
Burn scars are few around Pointe-à-la-Croix, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.003% a year). For earthquakes Pointe-à-la-Croix is middling, $0.036 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Pointe-à-la-Croix grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Pointe-à-la-Croix’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Pointe-à-la-Croix: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Pointe-à-la-Croix faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Pointe-à-la-Croix: C−
Two inputs always count for Pointe-à-la-Croix, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Pointe-à-la-Croix has burned: 1% within 5 km, 0.1% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Pointe-à-la-Croix’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Pointe-à-la-Croix’s 0.003% is in the low band.
The nearer ring around Pointe-à-la-Croix is less wooded (35% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (59%).
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
Pointe-à-la-Croix ranks 32nd of the 514 towns in Quebec for burn rate, at 0.003% a year; Mistissini leads with 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Pointe-à-la-Croix among them, though its rate is above zero; 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.
No flood study is listed for Pointe-à-la-Croix
Flood studies whose area touches Pointe-à-la-Croix, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Pointe-à-la-Croix, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Pointe-à-la-Croix is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Pointe-à-la-Croix’s homes stand in a flood zone.
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.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Pointe-à-la-Croix $0.036 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.
At $0.036 per $1,000, Pointe-à-la-Croix’s earthquake risk is about the typical Canadian town’s ($0.030; 1.2 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Pointe-à-la-Croix’s $0.036 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under 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.
Middle of the pack: 46% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more earthquake risk than Pointe-à-la-Croix.
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 Pointe-à-la-Croix’s 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).
25% of homes tested around Pointe-à-la-Croix are over the radon guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
Radon runs above the typical Canadian town (6.6%) in Pointe-à-la-Croix’s area, at 25%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Pointe-à-la-Croix, 25% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 3.4% over 600, against a median of 8.2% in Quebec.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Few of Canada’s 2,611 towns (3.1%) share the 20–30% band with Pointe-à-la-Croix, and 1.5% sit above it.
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 survey sampled homes around Pointe-à-la-Croix; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Gaspesie - Iles-de-la-Madeleine health region
Weather and fire alerts for Pointe-à-la-Croix
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Pointe-à-la-Croix; 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 Pointe-à-la-Croix, 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 Pointe-à-la-Croix’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pointe-à-la-Croix | Low | $0.036 | 25% | None listed |
| Campbellton 7,485 · 3.4 km | Low | $0.038 | 24% | Yes |
| Listuguj 1,646 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.053 | 25% | None listed |
| Atholville 3,346 · 12 km | Low | $0.035 | 24% | Yes |
| Dalhousie 1,132 · 13 km | Low | $0.033 | 24% | Yes |
| Balmoral 1,628 · 18 km | Low | $0.035 | 24% | Yes |
| Eel River Crossing 1,918 · 19 km | Low | $0.048 | 24% | Yes |
The fire record around Balmoral is a touch heavier than Pointe-à-la-Croix’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 Pointe-à-la-Croix faces
What to do about the hazards Pointe-à-la-Croix 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Pointe-à-la-Croix is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- 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 Pointe-à-la-Croix.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Shaking damage is modelled from the ground, the buildings and the odds of each quake, and published for whole subdivisions such as Pointe-à-la-Croix’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Pointe-à-la-Croix’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Pointe-à-la-Croix
Does Pointe-à-la-Croix flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Pointe-à-la-Croix’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Pointe-à-la-Croix’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Pointe-à-la-Croix C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is Pointe-à-la-Croix at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0.1% of the land around Pointe-à-la-Croix since 1986 (last in 2025); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Pointe-à-la-Croix?
Around Pointe-à-la-Croix, 174 survey homes were tested and 25% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Pointe-à-la-Croix?
Expected earthquake damage in Pointe-à-la-Croix comes to $0.036 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
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).