Photo: Ymblanter · CC BY-SA 4.0Hazard risk in Rivière-du-Loup is higher than in 94% of Canadian towns
Little of the land around Rivière-du-Loup has burned: 0.2% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.004% a year. Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.28 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 14% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Rivière-du-Loup grades D for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Rivière-du-Loup’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Rivière-du-Loup: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Rivière-du-Loup faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Rivière-du-Loup grades D for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Rivière-du-Loup’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
Its place: #503 of 507 in Quebec and #2,530 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.
Few fires near Rivière-du-Loup: 1.5% within 5 km, 0.2% within 25 km
Past fire around Rivière-du-Loup’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.004% of the land near Rivière-du-Loup burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
There is forest near Rivière-du-Loup’s homes (25% within 5 km) and more of it further out (54% 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
The land around Rivière-du-Loup burns at 0.004% a year, the 29th highest rate of 513 towns in Quebec; Mistissini tops it 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.
Low, like 92% of the country’s 2,610 towns: the land around Rivière-du-Loup burns, but slower than in the 7.5% above it.
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 Rivière-du-Loup
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Rivière-du-Loup: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists no study whose area touches Rivière-du-Loup, which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Rivière-du-Loup is not among them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Rivière-du-Loup floods.
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 Rivière-du-Loup $0.28 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
Rivière-du-Loup’s $0.28 is about 9.3 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
At $0.28, Rivière-du-Loup 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.
Rivière-du-Loup is in the top tenth of Canada’s 2,611 towns for earthquake risk; 6.1% 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).
The loss is to Rivière-du-Loup’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).
Radon runs high around Rivière-du-Loup: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
At 14% over the guideline, the area around Rivière-du-Loup beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Rivière-du-Loup’s area, at 14%, is above the median in Quebec (8.2%), and 1.8% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
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 Rivière-du-Loup, 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.
One home in Rivière-du-Loup 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). · Data for radon tests covers the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
Weather and fire alerts for Rivière-du-Loup
Alerts for Rivière-du-Loup 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 Rivière-du-Loup to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Rivière-du-Loup
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivière-du-Loup | Low | $0.28 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Antonin 4,633 · 7.7 km | Low | $0.24 | 14% | Yes |
| Cacouna 1,888 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.21 | 14% | None listed |
| Notre-Dame-du-Portage 1,341 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.27 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Modeste 1,182 · 11 km | Low | $0.20 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Arsène 1,269 · 13 km | Low | $0.19 | 14% | None listed |
| Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska 2,509 · 18 km | Low | $0.37 | 14% | Yes |
Cacouna burns a little more than Rivière-du-Loup, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Rivière-du-Loup faces
Practical steps for Rivière-du-Loup’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.
- 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
- 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 Rivière-du-Loup sits in.
- 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 Rivière-du-Loup’s.
- 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 Rivière-du-Loup floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Rivière-du-Loup’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 Rivière-du-Loup
Does Rivière-du-Loup flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Rivière-du-Loup (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Is radon a problem in Rivière-du-Loup?
14% of the 171 homes Health Canada tested around Rivière-du-Loup topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
How big is the earthquake risk in Rivière-du-Loup?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Rivière-du-Loup’s buildings lose $0.28 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Rivière-du-Loup at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Rivière-du-Loup’s band is low, with 0.2% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2018), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Rivière-du-Loup’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Rivière-du-Loup 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).