Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Shannon is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Since 1986 almost nothing has burned near Shannon: 0% of the land within 25 km, or 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. Shannon’s survey area, 8.8% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Shannon a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Shannon’s hazards
For Shannon, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Shannon faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Shannon: C
Two inputs always count for Shannon, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #258 of 507 in Quebec and #2,210 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Little of the land around Shannon has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Shannon’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
With 0.001% burned a year, Shannon is among the many low-band places (the typical Canadian town 0.000%).
The 5 km ring around Shannon’s homes is clear of burns since 1986, the nearest 9.2 km out.
More forest grows near Shannon’s homes (42% within 5 km) than across 25 km (33%).
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, Shannon 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.
The low band takes in 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns, Shannon 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.
Shannon is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Shannon: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
2 studies on the inventory touch Shannon, the newest Gouvernement du Québec’s from 2005, and their areas can be large, so they say maps exist, not that the town floods.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| St-Catherine-Jacques-Cartier | Gouvernement du Québec | 2005 | final |
| Shannon | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Shannon 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 around Shannon has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1990s to the 2000s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Shannon.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Shannon 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.
High seismic risk in Shannon: $0.12 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
The typical town loses $0.030 a year to shaking; Shannon loses $0.12, 3.9 times as much.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Neither high nor low in Quebec: Shannon’s $0.12 sits by the median of $0.14, while La Pocatière reaches $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.
In the upper part of Canada’s range: 24% of its 2,611 towns expect more damage than Shannon.
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 Shannon 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).
8.8% of homes tested around Shannon are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline.
The survey area of Shannon reads 8.8%, a shade from the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%. Figures for radon tests are published for the Capitale-Nationale health region as a whole, not for Shannon alone.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Shannon, 8.8% of tests topped the guideline, close to the typical town in Quebec (8.2%); 2.5% were over 600.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Shannon’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
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.
Health Canada advises testing every home, Shannon’s included, whatever the area’s figure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Shannon
Alerts for Shannon 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 Shannon 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)
How Shannon’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shannon | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Fossambault-sur-le-Lac 2,505 · 7.5 km | Low | $0.10 | 8.8% | None listed |
| Val-Bélair 30,003 · 8.1 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier 9,830 · 8.2 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Lac-Saint-Charles 9,985 · 11 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier 3,400 · 11 km | Low | $0.087 | 8.8% | Yes |
| Loretteville 15,653 · 12 km | Low | $0.14 | 8.8% | Yes |
The neighbour with the most fire is Fossambault-sur-le-Lac (low), still no more than Shannon (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Shannon faces
What to do about the hazards Shannon 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
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Shannon floods.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Shannon’s included.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Shannon sits in.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Shannon.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Shannon
How big is the earthquake risk in Shannon?
NRCan’s model expects shaking to cost buildings in Shannon $0.12 a year for every $1,000 of their value, on average over many years.
How is Shannon’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Shannon C, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Is radon a problem in Shannon?
Around Shannon, 160 survey homes were tested and 8.8% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Does Shannon flood?
Shannon’s area has been studied for flooding, and the owner’s map shows which streets lie in a zone; the grade leaves flood out.
Is Shannon at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Shannon since 1986 (last in 2020); 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).