Photo: abdallahh from Montréal, Canada · CC BY 2.0Sorel-Tracy is on Canada’s flood inventory: 2 listed, led by Gouvernement du Québec
Wildfire is rare near Sorel-Tracy: 0% of the land within 25 km has burned since 1986, a burn rate of 0.001% a year. Seismic risk runs high: $0.15 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Sorel-Tracy as elsewhere, 8.2% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Sorel-Tracy a grade of C, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Sorel-Tracy’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Sorel-Tracy: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Sorel-Tracy faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Sorel-Tracy grades C for hazard risk
Earthquake risk and radon make Sorel-Tracy’s grade; wildfire can only lower it, never raise it, and flood studies are listed but not scored.
Its place: #271 of 507 in Quebec and #2,224 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Few fires near Sorel-Tracy: 0.1% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Sorel-Tracy’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.001% of the land a year around Sorel-Tracy, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Near or far, forest fuel covers a similar share around Sorel-Tracy: 7.3% within 5 km and 6.5% 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
In the upper half in Quebec but far from Mistissini (0.31%): Sorel-Tracy ranks 136th of 513, at 0.001% a year.
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.
Some fire is mapped around Sorel-Tracy, but not enough to leave the low band, where 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns are; 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.
Sorel-Tracy is on the flood map inventory: 2 studies, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
Flood studies whose area touches Sorel-Tracy, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
For Sorel-Tracy the inventory points to 2 studies, most recently Gouvernement du Québec’s in 1996.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
| Sorel-Chambly | Gouvernement du Québec | 1979 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Quebec reaches 45% of towns, Sorel-Tracy 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 Sorel-Tracy has come in steps: 2 studies from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Study dates as the NRCan inventory lists them, one count per study touching Sorel-Tracy.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Sorel-Tracy’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.
High seismic risk in Sorel-Tracy: $0.15 per $1,000 of buildings a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
Roughly 5.1 times the typical $0.030: Sorel-Tracy’s $0.15 marks real seismic exposure.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Sorel-Tracy’s $0.15 is close to the median in Quebec, $0.14; La Pocatière is highest 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.
Sorel-Tracy sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 15% 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 Sorel-Tracy’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).
Radon about average around Sorel-Tracy: 8.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
8.2% of tested homes around Sorel-Tracy were over the guideline, much like the typical Canadian town at 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Sorel-Tracy is ordinary for towns in Quebec: 8.2%, beside a median of 8.2%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Between 5% and 10% of tests over the guideline: Sorel-Tracy, and 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% 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.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Sorel-Tracy as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Not measured by town: radon tests (the Monteregie health region)
Weather and fire alerts for Sorel-Tracy
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Sorel-Tracy; 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. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Sorel-Tracy come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Sorel-Tracy’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorel-Tracy | Low | $0.15 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel 1,602 · 2.1 km | Low | $0.18 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola 2,170 · 4.4 km | Low | $0.11 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Victoire-de-Sorel 2,599 · 6.4 km | Low | $0.13 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Sainte-Anne-de-Sorel 2,770 · 6.8 km | Low | $0.12 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Berthierville 4,591 · 7.8 km | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier 2,298 · 10 km | Low | $0.14 | 3.9% | Yes |
Fire is no heavier anywhere nearby than around Sorel-Tracy (low), with Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel next at low.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Sorel-Tracy faces
Practical steps for Sorel-Tracy’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.
- 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
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Sorel-Tracy until then.
- 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 Sorel-Tracy’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Sorel-Tracy without grading them.
- Wildfire counts one way. The wildfire figure is the share of land within 25 km of Sorel-Tracy’s homes burned each year from 1986 to 2025, past fire rather than a forecast, and it can only lower Risk.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Sorel-Tracy
How big is the earthquake risk in Sorel-Tracy?
Expected earthquake damage in Sorel-Tracy comes to $0.15 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Does Sorel-Tracy flood?
A flood study covers Sorel-Tracy on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Sorel-Tracy’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Sorel-Tracy grades C for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is radon a problem in Sorel-Tracy?
The area’s survey found 8.2% of 110 tested homes above Health Canada’s guideline, so a three-month test is worth doing in Sorel-Tracy.
Is Sorel-Tracy at risk of wildfire?
Some, but Sorel-Tracy’s low band (0% of nearby land burned since 1986, latest 2025) is short of the level that counts.
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).