Photo: David Asch · Public domainRadon is Port-Daniel--Gascons’ main hazard: 25% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Wildfire is rare near Port-Daniel--Gascons: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.000% a year. For earthquakes Port-Daniel--Gascons is middling, $0.021 a year per $1,000 against $0.030 for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Port-Daniel--Gascons a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Port-Daniel--Gascons’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Port-Daniel--Gascons: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Port-Daniel--Gascons faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Port-Daniel--Gascons: C
Seismic risk and radon set Port-Daniel--Gascons’ grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
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.
Wildfire is rare near Port-Daniel--Gascons: 0% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Past fire around Port-Daniel--Gascons’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
The land within 25 km of Port-Daniel--Gascons burns at 0.000% a year on average, the low band; the typical Canadian town: 0.000%.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Port-Daniel--Gascons: 83% within 5 km and 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 514
Of the 514 towns in Quebec, 145 have a burn rate that rounds to zero, Port-Daniel--Gascons among them; Mistissini leads at 0.31% 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.
Port-Daniel--Gascons shares the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, its burn rate rounding to nothing; 7.5% burn faster.
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.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Port-Daniel--Gascons
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Port-Daniel--Gascons: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
No flood study on the national inventory covers Port-Daniel--Gascons; ask the municipality, which is the authority for its flood maps.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Port-Daniel--Gascons is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Port-Daniel--Gascons’ 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.”
Ordinary seismic risk in Port-Daniel--Gascons: $0.021 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
With $0.021 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Port-Daniel--Gascons is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.7 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Port-Daniel--Gascons, at $0.021, is below the median of $0.14.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Neither high nor low for Canada: 63% of the 2,611 towns expect more damage than Port-Daniel--Gascons.
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 Port-Daniel--Gascons’ 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).
25% of homes tested around Port-Daniel--Gascons are over the radon 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
Port-Daniel--Gascons’ area, at 25%, is above the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town, so testing is worth more here than most places.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
More homes top the guideline around Port-Daniel--Gascons (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.
Port-Daniel--Gascons 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.
One home in Port-Daniel--Gascons can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Port-Daniel--Gascons
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Port-Daniel--Gascons; 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. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Port-Daniel--Gascons, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Port-Daniel--Gascons faces
Practical steps for Port-Daniel--Gascons’ 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Port-Daniel--Gascons’ figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Port-Daniel--Gascons without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Port-Daniel--Gascons’ homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Port-Daniel--Gascons until then.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Port-Daniel--Gascons
Is Port-Daniel--Gascons at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Port-Daniel--Gascons’ low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
Does Port-Daniel--Gascons flood?
The inventory has 0 studies for Port-Daniel--Gascons, and an empty list isn’t a clean bill: the municipality holds any flood maps.
How big is the earthquake risk in Port-Daniel--Gascons?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Port-Daniel--Gascons $0.021 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Port-Daniel--Gascons’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Port-Daniel--Gascons grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Port-Daniel--Gascons?
The area’s survey found 25% of 174 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Port-Daniel--Gascons.
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).