Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Flood mapping exists for Sainte-Claire: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire barely registers for Sainte-Claire, at 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986 (0.000% a year). Earthquakes add more: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.080 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. More homes than usual carry radon here, 13% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Sainte-Claire grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Sainte-Claire’s hazards
For Sainte-Claire, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Sainte-Claire faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Sainte-Claire: C−
For Sainte-Claire, Risk will be the average of earthquakes and radon, with wildfire added only if it makes the average worse.
Its place: #424 of 507 in Quebec and #2,415 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Sainte-Claire has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sainte-Claire’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low: the land around Sainte-Claire burns at 0.000% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Since 1986 the nearest fire to Sainte-Claire’s homes came within 18 km, never inside 5 km.
The nearer ring around Sainte-Claire is less wooded (24% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (37%).
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
Near-zero burning puts Sainte-Claire with 144 of the 513 towns in Quebec, far below Mistissini 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.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Sainte-Claire, burning rounds to zero.
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.
Gouvernement du Québec has mapped flooding for Sainte-Claire (1 study)
Flood studies whose area touches Sainte-Claire, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
Gouvernement du Québec studied flooding in an area that includes Sainte-Claire (2008); open its map to see which streets lie in a flood zone.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Claire | Gouvernement du Québec | 2008 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Sainte-Claire 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.
Flood mapping is shown for Sainte-Claire to be opened and checked, never turned into a grade.
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.
Shaking is Sainte-Claire’s costliest hazard: $0.080 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 2.7 times the typical $0.030: Sainte-Claire’s $0.080 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Earthquake risk in Quebec peaks in La Pocatière ($0.48); Sainte-Claire, at $0.080, 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.
More earthquake risk than most: only 28% of Canada’s 2,611 towns are above Sainte-Claire.
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).
For Sainte-Claire the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Sainte-Claire: 13% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region
At 13% over the guideline, the area around Sainte-Claire beats the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Sainte-Claire, 13% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 0.6% 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.
Sainte-Claire is in the 10–20% band, with 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; only 4.6% 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.
Whatever Sainte-Claire’s area share, the reading that matters is your own home’s, over a winter.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Sainte-Claire
Alerts for Sainte-Claire 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. |
Fire danger and active fires near Sainte-Claire are mapped daily by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System; evacuation orders come from the municipality or province.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sainte-Claire’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Claire | Low | $0.080 | 13% | Yes |
| Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse 1,330 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.092 | 13% | None listed |
| Sainte-Hénédine 1,550 · 8.3 km | Low | $0.078 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Anselme 4,534 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.13 | 13% | Yes |
| Sainte-Marguerite 1,297 · 10 km | Low | $0.062 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Malachie 1,755 · 12 km | Low | $0.055 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Gervais 2,235 · 13 km | Low | $0.090 | 13% | None listed |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sainte-Claire (low), with Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Claire faces
Practical steps for Sainte-Claire’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.
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sainte-Claire takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Sainte-Claire’s census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. The flood inventory points to maps; it is incomplete and not the official source, so ask the municipality about any street in Sainte-Claire.
- Wildfire counts one way. For Sainte-Claire, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Claire
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Claire?
The area’s survey found 13% of 175 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Sainte-Claire.
Does Sainte-Claire flood?
The inventory lists a study touching Sainte-Claire; whether a given street floods is on that map, not in the grade.
Is Sainte-Claire at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sainte-Claire’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2015) is short of the level that counts.
How is Sainte-Claire’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sainte-Claire C−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Claire?
Expected earthquake damage in Sainte-Claire comes to $0.080 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).