Photo: Ataboy75 · Public domainSainte-Anne-de-Sorel is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire barely registers for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.001% a year). Seismic risk runs high: $0.12 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of homes tested in Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s area exceeded 200 Bq/m³, close to the typical 6.6%. Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel grades C for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel grades C for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #146 of 507 in Quebec and #2,092 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 5.6 km from Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s homes, none within 5 km.
The forest starts beyond town: 3.7% of the land within 5 km of Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s homes is forest fuel, against 6.3% 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
At 0.001% a year, Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel ranks 136th of the 513 towns in Quebec; 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.
Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or 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.
Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is on the flood map inventory: 1 study, by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 1996 study by Gouvernement du Québec covers Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel has one.
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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s 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.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel $0.12 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.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel loses $0.12, 4.1 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
The median in Quebec is $0.14; Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, at $0.12, is right beside it, and La Pocatière tops the list 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 23% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel.
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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’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).
Some radon around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel: 8.2% of area homes over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Monteregie health region
At 8.2% over the guideline, the area around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel 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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel; 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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola 2,170 · 6.0 km | Low | $0.11 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel 1,602 · 6.3 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Sorel-Tracy 36,537 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Robert 1,846 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Berthierville 4,591 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Victoire-de-Sorel 2,599 · 11 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | Yes |
Among its neighbours Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel has the most fire on record (low); Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola follows (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap the water heater down.
- Keep 72 hours of supplies.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- 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 Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel.
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel
How is Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel?
About $0.12 a year per $1,000 of building value, NRCan’s long-run expectation for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel?
Around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel, 110 survey homes were tested and 8.2% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel flood?
There is flood mapping for Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel since 1986 (last in 2022); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the 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).