Photo: Gabriel Picard · CC BY-SA 4.0On hazards, Sainte-Croix comes out behind 90% of Canadian towns
Fire has left almost no mark near Sainte-Croix: 0% of the land within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.13 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Radon is higher than usual: 13% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Hazard risk gives Sainte-Croix a grade of D, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sainte-Croix’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Croix: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Croix 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-Croix: D
The grade weighs Sainte-Croix’s seismic risk and radon equally, and wildfire is one-sided: a high band counts against a town, a low one earns nothing.
Its place: #472 of 507 in Quebec and #2,476 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-Croix has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Sainte-Croix’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Next to the typical Canadian town (0.000% a year), Sainte-Croix’s 0.001% is in the low band.
The closest burn since 1986 lies 15 km from Sainte-Croix’s homes, none within 5 km.
The nearer ring around Sainte-Croix is less wooded (14% forest fuel) than the land out to 25 km (35%).
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
Sainte-Croix sits mid-table in Quebec: 136th of 513 towns, at 0.001% a year, well behind Mistissini (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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Sainte-Croix among them, though its rate is above zero; 7.5% rank 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.
No flood study is listed for Sainte-Croix
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sainte-Croix: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
There is no study for Sainte-Croix on the national flood inventory, which is far from complete.
Towns with a flood study on file
Only 45% of towns in Quebec have a flood study, short of Canada’s 58%, and Sainte-Croix is not among them.
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-Croix 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.”
Shaking is Sainte-Croix’s costliest hazard: $0.13 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Sainte-Croix loses $0.13, 4.2 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Typical for its province: Sainte-Croix at $0.13 beside a median in Quebec of $0.14, with La Pocatière on top 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-Croix.
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 Sainte-Croix’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).
13% of homes tested around Sainte-Croix are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Source area for radon tests: the Chaudiere-Appalaches health region
A higher share than most: 13% of tested homes around Sainte-Croix, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Sainte-Croix, 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.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Sainte-Croix 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Sainte-Croix only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Sainte-Croix
Alerts for Sainte-Croix 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 Sainte-Croix 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 Sainte-Croix
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Croix | Low | $0.13 | 13% | None listed |
| Donnacona 7,785 · 6.6 km | Low | $0.11 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Saint-Édouard-de-Lotbinière 1,295 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.15 | 13% | None listed |
| Cap-Santé 3,885 · 8.9 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Laurier-Station 2,838 · 12 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
| Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly 1,747 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 13% | None listed |
| Neuville 4,579 · 14 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | None listed |
Donnacona (low) has the heaviest fire record of Sainte-Croix’s neighbours, and Sainte-Croix (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sainte-Croix faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Croix 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?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
- Is earthquake cover included?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- 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-Croix.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sainte-Croix’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
- Radon is a survey. Health Canada’s survey tested some 14,000 homes over three months; until postal-area boundaries are loaded, Sainte-Croix takes its 2007 health region’s share.
- 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-Croix’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Croix
Is Sainte-Croix at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Sainte-Croix since 1986 (last in 2003); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Croix?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sainte-Croix’s buildings lose $0.13 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Croix?
Around Sainte-Croix, 175 survey homes were tested and 13% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Sainte-Croix flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Sainte-Croix’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
How is Sainte-Croix’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Sainte-Croix 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).