Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0A flood study covers Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: 3 on the national inventory, the newest from Gouvernement du Québec
The national fire record shows next to nothing around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec, 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.067 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is higher than usual: 14% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Saint-Michel-du-Squatec a grade of C−, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Saint-Michel-du-Squatec faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Saint-Michel-du-Squatec with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.000% burned a year, Saint-Michel-du-Squatec is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
61% of the land within 5 km of Saint-Michel-du-Squatec is forest fuel, close to the 62% 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
Mistissini has the highest burn rate in Quebec, 0.31% a year; around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec, as around 145 of the 514 towns, it rounds to zero.
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.
Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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.
Flooding around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec is mapped in 3 studies, the newest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The newest of 3 studies covering Saint-Michel-du-Squatec is Gouvernement du Québec’s, from 2007; open its map to see the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabano | Gouvernement du Québec | 2007 | final |
| Témiscouata-Rivière-du-Loup | Gouvernement du Québec | 2007 | final |
| St-Michel-du-Squatec | Gouvernement du Québec | 2004 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Saint-Michel-du-Squatec among them, below the 58% across Canada.
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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec $0.067 per $1,000 a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Saint-Michel-du-Squatec loses $0.067, 2.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.067, Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 29% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Saint-Michel-du-Squatec.
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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’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).
Radon runs high around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: 14% of tested homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Bas-Saint-Laurent health region
Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s survey area reads 14% over the guideline, well past the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec, 14% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1.8% 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Saint-Michel-du-Squatec among them; 4.6% rank above.
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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec; it can’t tell you your basement’s level.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec
Alerts for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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. |
Evacuation orders for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec come from the municipality or the province, while CWFIS maps fire danger every day.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Get ready for what Saint-Michel-du-Squatec faces
What to do about the hazards Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec 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 Saint-Michel-du-Squatec.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec
Is radon a problem in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec?
Around Saint-Michel-du-Squatec, 171 survey homes were tested and 14% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Saint-Michel-du-Squatec flood?
There is flood mapping for Saint-Michel-du-Squatec on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Saint-Michel-du-Squatec $0.067 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Saint-Michel-du-Squatec’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Saint-Michel-du-Squatec grades C− for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Saint-Michel-du-Squatec at risk of wildfire?
No meaningful wildfire history near Saint-Michel-du-Squatec: 0% of nearby land since 1986, band low.
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).