Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domainSainte-Mélanie is on Canada’s flood inventory: 1 listed, led by MRC Joliette
Little of the land around Sainte-Mélanie has burned: 0% within 25 km since 1986, or 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.085 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Radon is lower than usual: 3.9% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Sainte-Mélanie grades B for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Sainte-Mélanie’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sainte-Mélanie: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sainte-Mélanie 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-Mélanie: B
The grade weighs Sainte-Mélanie’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: #51 of 507 in Quebec and #1,410 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. Only 77 homes were tested in the survey area, so the radon share is rough. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Sainte-Mélanie has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Sainte-Mélanie’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
At 0.001% of the land a year, Sainte-Mélanie’s burn rate is in the low band; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Forest fuel covers 13% of the land close to Sainte-Mélanie and 23% across 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-Mélanie 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.
Beside 2,610 Canadian towns, Sainte-Mélanie reads low, with 92% of them; only 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.
MRC Joliette has mapped flooding for Sainte-Mélanie (1 study)
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Sainte-Mélanie: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
MRC Joliette holds the flood mapping that covers Sainte-Mélanie (2016), linked below.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Mélanie-St-Charles-Borromée-Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes-St-Ambroise-de-Kildare | MRC Joliette | 2016 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Quebec, 45% of towns against 58% nationally, but Sainte-Mélanie has one.
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-Mélanie 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.
High seismic risk in Sainte-Mélanie: $0.085 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.085 per $1,000, Sainte-Mélanie carries roughly 2.8 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Sainte-Mélanie’s $0.085 sits under the median in Quebec, $0.14, and well under La Pocatière’s $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.
Sainte-Mélanie sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 27% are 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 Sainte-Mélanie’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).
Little radon around Sainte-Mélanie: 3.9% of area homes over the guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
Sainte-Mélanie’s survey area reads 3.9% over the guideline, under the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Sainte-Mélanie’s area, at 3.9%, is below the median in Quebec (8.2%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The quietest radon band, under 5%, holds 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns and Sainte-Mélanie; 63% sit 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.
Basements, soil and how a house is sealed decide its radon, so in Sainte-Mélanie only a test can say.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: one figure for all of the Lanaudiere health region
Weather and fire alerts for Sainte-Mélanie
Alerts for Sainte-Mélanie 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-Mélanie 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)
Hazards in the places around Sainte-Mélanie
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Mélanie | Low | $0.085 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes 3,328 · 4.7 km | Low | $0.13 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Ambroise-de-Kildare 4,615 · 5.5 km | Low | $0.12 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Saint-Félix-de-Valois 7,670 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.089 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Sainte-Marcelline-de-Kildare 1,941 · 7.2 km | Low | $0.064 | 3.9% | None listed |
| Saint-Charles-Borromée 16,904 · 9.1 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 9,622 · 9.6 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
Saint-Félix-de-Valois burns a little more than Sainte-Mélanie, 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 Sainte-Mélanie faces
What to do about the hazards Sainte-Mélanie 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
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Sainte-Mélanie 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 Sainte-Mélanie.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Sainte-Mélanie’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Sainte-Mélanie’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sainte-Mélanie
How big is the earthquake risk in Sainte-Mélanie?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Sainte-Mélanie’s buildings lose $0.085 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
How is Sainte-Mélanie’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sainte-Mélanie’s Hazard risk grade is B, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Sainte-Mélanie at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Sainte-Mélanie has burned since 1986, the last in 2025, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Does Sainte-Mélanie flood?
There is flood mapping for Sainte-Mélanie on the national inventory, each study linked to its owner’s map, none of them graded.
Is radon a problem in Sainte-Mélanie?
In Health Canada’s survey, 3.9% of 77 homes tested in Sainte-Mélanie’s area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
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).