Photo: Pymouss · CC BY-SA 4.0Flood mapping exists for Varennes: 1 on record, latest by Gouvernement du Québec
The burned-area map is nearly blank around Varennes, 0% within 25 km since 1986, 0.001% a year. Shaking is a bigger worry than in most places, at $0.20 a year per $1,000 of building value ($0.030 typical). Varennes’ survey area, 8.2% over the radon guideline, is close to the typical town’s 6.6%. Varennes grades C− for hazard risk; wildfire is low here, so it earns no credit.
What stands out about Varennes’s hazards
For Varennes, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Varennes faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Varennes: C−
Risk averages earthquakes and radon; wildfire joins only where it pulls the average down, so a town like Varennes with little fire nearby would get no credit for it.
Its place: #370 of 507 in Quebec and #2,343 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 Varennes has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Past fire around Varennes’ homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
In a typical year 0.001% of the land near Varennes burns; the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%, and both are low.
Nothing inside 5 km of Varennes’ homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 5.5 km off.
Forest fuel is scarce around Varennes: 1.3% of the land within 5 km, 2.8% 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
Varennes burns at 0.001% a year, 136th of 513 towns in Quebec; the leader, Mistissini, reaches 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, Varennes 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.
A flood study covers Varennes, from Gouvernement du Québec: 1 on the inventory
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Varennes: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
For Varennes the inventory points to Gouvernement du Québec’s 1996 study, whose map is the one to check.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes-Grondines | Gouvernement du Québec | 1996 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Varennes is one of the 45% of towns in Quebec with a flood study on file, fewer than Canada’s 58%.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Listed, not scored: a flood study proves a map exists, not that Varennes 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 Varennes: $0.20 per $1,000 of buildings a year
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
At $0.20 per $1,000, Varennes carries roughly 6.7 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Varennes’ $0.20 tops the median in Quebec, $0.14, though 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.
Varennes sits above most of Canada’s 2,611 towns on earthquake risk; 12% 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).
Only shaking damage to buildings in Varennes is counted; landslides, liquefaction, tsunami and fire after a quake aren’t.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
8.2% of homes tested around Varennes 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 Monteregie health region
Varennes’ area, at 8.2%, is close to the 6.6% of the typical Canadian town.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
The typical town in Quebec has 8.2% over 200 Bq/m³; Varennes’ area has 8.2%, much the same.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Varennes is in the 5–10% band with 37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns; 26% have more.
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.
Radon varies from house to house in Varennes, so the survey is a reason to test, not a result for yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Varennes
Alerts for Varennes 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 Varennes 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 Varennes’ neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Varennes | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Pointe-aux-Trembles 49,869 · 5.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Charlemagne 6,695 · 7.4 km | Low | $0.16 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Montréal-Est 5,112 · 7.9 km | Low | $0.16 | 6.8% | None listed |
| Boucherville 41,910 · 8.6 km | Low | $0.20 | 8.2% | Yes |
| Repentigny 91,290 · 9.7 km | Low | $0.20 | 3.9% | Yes |
| Rivière-des-Prairies 21,852 · 10 km | Low | $0.20 | 6.8% | Yes |
Pointe-aux-Trembles (low) has the heaviest fire record of Varennes’ neighbours, and Varennes (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Varennes faces
What to do about the hazards Varennes 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
- Earthquakes are modelled. Seismic risk is NRCan’s model of yearly building losses from shaking, averaged over many years and given for Varennes’ census subdivision (a neighbourhood shows its city’s).
- Wildfire counts one way. For Varennes, wildfire means how much nearby land burned in the past forty years, a one-way input that can pull Risk down and nothing more.
- 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 Varennes until then.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Varennes without grading them.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Varennes
How big is the earthquake risk in Varennes?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Varennes’ buildings lose $0.20 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Is Varennes at risk of wildfire?
Less than most of Canada: 0% of the land within 25 km of Varennes has burned since 1986, the last in 2022, a low band that leaves Risk alone.
Is radon a problem in Varennes?
In Health Canada’s survey, 8.2% of 110 homes tested in Varennes’ area were above 200 Bq/m³, though only a test tells you about one house.
Does Varennes flood?
A flood study covers Varennes on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How is Varennes’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Varennes’ Hazard risk grade is C−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
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).