Severe Weather & Natural Disaster Insurance Coverage

Does Travel Insurance Cover Natural Disasters & Severe Weather?

Yes, many comprehensive travel insurance policies can cover trip disruptions caused by natural disasters and severe weather phenomena.

Rather than acting as a standalone type of coverage, the Severe Weather & Natural Disaster benefit found in your insurance policy works as a situational trigger, or a covered reason, that activates coverage for several different types of travel insurance benefits, such as Trip Cancellation and Interruption coverage, Travel Delay and Missed Connection Coverage, Extension of Coverage, and more.

With travel insurance weather coverage, you may be able to receive a reimbursement if adverse weather makes travel impossible or causes an extended delay.

However, for coverage to apply, typically, most plans stipulate that the weather has to be severe enough to be classified as a natural disaster, cause destruction, major closures, or a complete cessation of services.

Exceptions to This Rule

Although the vast majority of policies require weather to cause the complete cessation of services, destruction of property, government-mandated road closures for coverage to apply, there are some more flexible policies where “inclement weather” can be covered more generally.

For example, some Berkshire Hathaway policies are able to reimburse you in more general terms, such as:

• “Arrangements canceled by an airline, cruise line, or tour operator resulting from severe weather conditions”
• “Common Carrier delay or cancellation resulting from severe weather conditions”
• “Adverse weather or Natural Disaster resulting in the obstruction of public roadways or curtailment of public transportation, that prevents Your ability to arrive at Your Land/Sea Arrangements”

How Does Travel Insurance Define a “Natural Disaster”?

The exact definition of a “Natural Disaster” by travel insurance companies varies by policy and provider, but typically, it’s categorized as an unforeseen catastrophic event brought on by “natural causes” that causes serious destruction of property.

Most companies and policies outline floods, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, cyclones, tornadoes, and “other natural disasters” as covered events.

However, just because the severe weather event isn’t explicitly named in the policy doesn’t mean it can’t be covered. For example, coverage can just as easily extend to blizzards and winter storms, or severe fog conditions.

One important caveat to remember is that most travel insurance providers emphasize that it must be brought on by "natural causes" to be considered a natural disaster. This means a policy is likely to exclude human-caused disasters such as a nuclear event or a building’s structural issues, for example.

What Does Severe Weather Travel Insurance Cover?

Depending on where you are in your trip, certain coverage benefits apply in the form of pre-departure benefits and mid-travel benefits.

Trip Cancellations

If severe weather or a natural disaster strikes at your home or destination before you have set out on your trip, you may be entitled to cancel your trip altogether and receive a full reimbursement, minus any booking refunds you receive.

Most travel insurance weather coverage applies to trip cancellations in four different ways:

The Destruction of Property

If your home or lodgings at your destination are “made uninhabitable”, then this coverage often entitles you to cancel your trip and receive a refund up to the scheduled amount set out by your policy.

Note that uninhabitable means severe destruction, such as a missing roof, or lack of essential services like water or electricity, not simple leaks, for example.

Government Mandated Closures

If the local government closes your airport or roadways and you are unable to travel, you may be able to cancel your trip and receive a refund up to the scheduled amount set out by your policy.

Complete Cessation of Services

If severe weather causes your common carrier to suspend all services for an extended period of time, you may be able to cancel your trip altogether and receive a refund up to the scheduled amount set out by your policy.

Most policies cite how long the cessation must last before you are able to cancel, often 6, 12, 24, 48, or 72 hours before this coverage can apply.

Mandatory Evacuation

You may be able to cancel your trip if your travel destination is placed under a mandatory evacuation. However, some travel insurance policies may only offer coverage if you have less than 75%-50% of your trip remaining after the evacuation order is lifted.

In some policies, this could mean missing at least 50% of your trip, or 4 days, for coverage to apply.

Travel Delays & Missed Connections

If you find yourself mid-travel and severe weather causes a significant delay or makes you miss a travel connection, your travel insurance policy’s severe weather benefit can often take over and allow you travel delay or missed connection coverage.

These two benefits can assist you in the following ways:

Assistance Rebooking

If you are delayed due to severe weather or miss your connecting flight, cruise, or pre-booked tour, travel insurance can help you rebook alternate travel arrangements to help you catch up to your trip and pay for additional costs you incur as a result of rebooking.

Reimburse Unused Expenses

If you miss your connecting flight, cruise, or pre-booked tour due to severe weather, your travel insurance policy can typically reimburse you for any unused or “unenjoyed” expenses that you missed out on. Examples include hotels, tours, and more.

Stipends for Food & Hotels

If you are severely delayed or miss your connection, most travel insurance plans offer reimbursement for food while you wait, and can even pay you back for getting a hotel until alternate travel arrangements are made.

This is an important benefit to have as airlines are not required to offer this to travelers delayed by adverse weather conditions.

For these coverages to apply, most travel insurance policies require you to be delayed for a minimum amount of time outlined in your policy. This also varies from policy and providers, so it’s best to read the fine print, as these time frames can range from a few hours to several days.

Trip Interruption & Extension of Coverage

Trip Interruption coverage and Extension of Coverage are two travel insurance benefits that can come into play if bad weather or a natural disaster leaves you stranded while traveling.

These two benefits can assist you in the following ways:

Trip Interruption Coverage

This coverage is designed to be able to reimburse up to the total cost of your trip and more if you get severely delayed or stranded due to adverse weather or a natural disaster.

This coverage can help pay for alternate travel arrangements to help you catch up to your trip or send you home. It can also reimburse you for unused travel plans that you missed out on as a result of the interruption.

Extension of Coverage

This coverage comes into play when you are severely delayed or stranded due to a natural disaster or weather phenomenon, and your trip gets inadvertently extended past your original return date.

In these cases, if your policy includes Extension of Coverage, your travel insurance can remain in place for extra days until you are able to return home safely.

Foreseeability & Named Storms

One of the most important caveats and considerations regarding severe weather coverage is that it is designed to protect you from unforeseen and unknown events.

For this reason, most severe weather coverage excludes protection relating to named storms and previously forecasted weather events if you bought your policy after these events were announced.

For example, in the case of hurricanes and tropical storms, if you purchase travel coverage before the storm has been named, and your trip gets disrupted by the storm, severe weather coverage can apply and reimburse you for your trip. However, if you bought your policy after the storm was named, any disruption caused by the named storm would be excluded from travel insurance coverage, as it was a known and foreseen event.

This is why, especially for weather coverage, it’s important to buy your travel insurance policy as early as possible. This can help ensure you get coverage in place before weather events are forecasted and storms become named.

If you are unsure if a storm is excluded from coverage, reach out to Squaremouth agents or directly to the provider for clarification of coverage.

What Is Not Covered by Severe Weather Travel Insurance?

Fear of Travel

Standard travel insurance will not cover you if you are scared to travel, even if traveling in bad weather is potentially dangerous.

For example, if you are scared to travel due to low visibility and poor road conditions, this is not a covered reason for cancelling your trip. The only travel insurance that can cover you for situations like this are Cancel For Any Reason coverage (CFAR) and Interruption for Any Reason coverage (IFAR), which are optional upgrades available on some comprehensive policies.

Foreseeable Events

If severe weather has been forecasted, predicted, or named, travel insurance will no longer offer coverage unless you purchased your policy before the event was forecasted.

If you need coverage for a foreseen event, consider CFAR and IFAR coverage.

Simple Bad Weather

As noted above, most travel insurance policies do not cover cancellations due to simple bad weather. However, there are a few ancillary protections due to inclement weather, which generally relate to sports.

As a rule of thumb, for cancellations, delays, and interruptions, the weather must be considered a natural disaster or severe enough to cause damage or cessation of services for coverage to apply.

Tips For Filing a Severe Weather Travel Insurance Claim

1. Contact the 24/7 Hotline: Reach out to your travel insurance company’s 24/7 emergency assistance line to get help managing your travel disruption. This service can help you understand how to proceed and also connect you with any relevant parties within the company to assist you with making a claim. If your request relates to a delay or missed connection, they can also help get you rebooked.
2. Check your coverage: Before cancelling or changing your trip, you may want to contact your insurance provider to clarify coverage within your policy’s travel insurance weather clause. This way, you may be able to avoid losing money by accidentally cancelling a non-covered trip. That said, it’s important to note that mostagents are not licensed claims adjusters and cannot confirm whether or not you will be covered; However, they can guide you in making your decision for the best possible outcome.
3. Collect written proof: Your travel insurance provider’s claims department will require written proof to justify your claims. Ensure you request written statements from your travel providers, hotels, airlines, and more to back up your claims and avoid having your claim denied due to a lack of evidence. This can also include citing government orders relating to closures, or requesting forms for documenting property damage at your hotel or home.

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FAQs: Natural Disasters & Travel Insurance Weather Coverage

Can I Buy Travel Insurance For Bad Weather?

Yes, many travel insurance plans offer coverage for bad weather. Squaremouth’s quote and comparison tool allows you to enter your trip information, select the hurricane and severe weather filter to narrow your search results to only plans that cover severe weather. You can select up to 4 policies to compare detailed coverage limits and inclusions in a side-by-side table. In this way, you can easily find a policy that offers severe weather coverage for your needs.

Can I Buy Travel Insurance After A Storm Has Been Named?

Yes, but your coverage will not apply to claims related to or caused by the storm. The only coverage that can apply for storm-related incidents if you buy a policy after the storm has been named is CFAR and IFAR coverage.

Does Travel Insurance Cover Power Outages Caused By Severe Weather?

Yes, depending on the policy, travel insurance could cover you to cancel your trip if bad weather or a natural disaster causes a power outage at your destination.

Typically, one of the following conditions must be met for trip cancellation coverage to apply:

• The power outages make the accommodations at your destination uninhabitable
• There’s a mandatory evacuation order in place at your destination

Ultimately, coverage for power outages depends on your policy’s specific coverage and exclusions.

When Do I Need To Buy Severe Weather Coverage?

Always aim to buy travel insurance as soon as you book your trip for your best chance at qualifying for time-sensitive benefits. Severe weather coverage often requires you to buy before severe weather has been forecasted, announced, or storms have been named in order for coverage to apply.

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Please be aware that coverage and eligibility requirements for this benefit differ by policy.

Looking for a policy with Hurricane & Weather coverage?

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