Does Travel Insurance Cover Natural Disasters? What to Know

One of the most unpredictable elements of a trip is the weather. Even weather bureaus can’t always predict everything or how severe a storm may be!

A sudden hurricane, earthquake, or wildfire can derail even the most well-planned trip. And it doesn’t always have to happen during your trip for you to be affected. A strong tornado in your hometown before you leave could mean you can’t reach your destination.

When natural disasters happen, you can quickly rack up bills for evacuations, medical treatment for injuries, or emergency accommodation. Your baggage might get lost or flights could be canceled.

All these costs may cost more than the trip itself, so getting the right travel insurance can help minimize unexpected losses.

Understanding Natural Disaster Coverage

Most insurance providers will cover natural disasters, but there may be limitations, so check your policy's fine print. Some may exclude natural disasters completely.

Different providers may describe a natural disaster differently — natural catastrophe, an act of God, or “force majeure.” Natural disasters can also be described as natural consequences that are unforeseen and out of human control. 

The key factor is that if they were foreseeable, no coverage applies.

Some natural disasters or severe weather events that providers may cover include:

• Hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical storms
• Earthquakes and tsunamis
• Wildfires, floods, and severe weather events

However, some providers may also require that the disaster causes disruption of transportation or utilities for you to qualify for coverage. 

For example, you’d likely be covered for canceling your trip if you can’t physically reach your destination, or the destination/accommodation is too dangerous or uninhabitable. But if you simply cancel because a bad storm has left the beaches a bit rough, you likely won’t be covered.

Before you buy a policy, check how it defines a natural disaster and whether you would be comfortable with that level of coverage.

Also, to ensure you are protected from the unforeseeable, it's best to purchase insurance as soon as you have booked any part of your trip. 

Say a major cyclone hits your destination two days after you book your flights, and you don’t have insurance. You won’t be covered, and buying travel insurance at that point will be too late.

READ MORE: What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

What’s Included in Natural Disaster Coverage?

Every policy is different, but here are some areas you should check are covered in the case of a natural disaster:

• Trip cancellations and interruptions: For when a natural disaster forces you to cancel your trip or cut your trip short. It covers transportation, accommodation, and tours already paid for. According to Allianz Travel Insurance, a natural disaster that occurs in your hometown and damages your home, leading you to cancel your plans, would be eligible for protection.

• Trip delays: If your trip isn’t cancelled but has been delayed, say, by a huge blizzard, this should cover that. You could be reimbursed for unused prepaid trip costs and expenses you incur while waiting out the delay, such as meals and accommodation.

• Emergency evacuation and relocation: This will help cover the costs of transporting you to the nearest safe location.

• Baggage loss or damage due to disasters: Items may get lost when a natural disaster hits — this would compensate you for lost or damaged belongings.

• Medical expenses: This would cover treatment for injuries or illness during a natural disaster.  

• 24/7 emergency assistance: An often overlooked benefit of travel insurance is having access to a 24-hour toll-free number to help you get to safety in an emergency. They can help to arrange emergency evacuation, accommodation, or transportation.

When Travel Insurance Won’t Cover Natural Disasters

As mentioned, travel insurance won’t always cover natural disasters. There are a few situations where a provider would likely cancel a claim.

Buying insurance after a disaster is declared

Insurance must be purchased before an event becomes a known risk. 

Once the event has been declared a natural disaster in the public domain, such as mainstream media or government advisories, it is a “known event.” 

If you buy travel insurance after it’s a known event, you won’t be covered.

Voluntary cancellations outside of coverage terms

Policies don’t cover costs related to you cancelling a trip just because bad weather is forecasted. A thunderstorm or heavy snowfall doesn’t constitute a natural disaster.

It also won’t cover you if there has just been an itinerary change. For instance, if a tour skips a particular town due to its proximity to an earthquake but changes it to an alternate town, you likely won’t be covered unless this change increases fees.

If you decide to cancel, and it wasn’t the decision of the airline, hotel, or tour operator, there is no coverage for this either.

READ MORE: Which Situations Are Covered by Trip Cancellation Insurance?

Certain high-risk destinations

Some policies exclude coverage for known disaster-prone areas. 

Check government travel advisories to see if your destination falls into this category.

Travel Insurance Providers That Offer Natural Disaster Coverage

Here are some insurance providers that offer good coverage for natural disasters. But always check the fine print to confirm exactly what is covered.

Allianz Global Assistance: Coverage for delays and cancellations

Even one of the most basic plans with Allianz Travel Insurance, their One Trip Basic, provides coverage for strikes, natural disasters, or severe weather resulting in the complete cessation of services by the airline, tour operator, or cruise line for at least 24 consecutive hours. 

Natural disasters are also covered to a certain amount under travel delay coverage.

World Nomads: Coverage for adventure travel mishaps

All three plan levels with World Nomads cover reasonable costs related to political or security evacuation or natural disaster evacuation. 

World Nomads is targeted to adventure travelers, who may be more likely to visit areas that are prone to severe events, such as avalanches in a remote ski region, volcanic eruptions in rugged hiking terrain, or tsunami risks in popular surfing spots. 

Travel Guard by AIG: Coverage for unforeseen inconveniences

Most plans with Travel Guard cover specific weather-related trip interruptions and cancellations.

They also offer “travel inconvenience” coverage on their Preferred and Deluxe plans. This would cover situations where your travels haven’t been totally cancelled or interrupted by a disaster, but merely changed.

For example, say you were on a cruise and had to miss one of the ports you were excited to visit due to an earthquake. With this coverage, you could receive compensation for the inconvenience. 

How To File a Travel Insurance Claim for a Natural Disaster

In many cases, you may be directed to contact your airline, travel agent, or tour provider first to see if you can reschedule or obtain a refund. 

You can then submit a claim with your travel insurance company for any remaining financial losses.

1. Document your claim

Keep proof of cancellations, weather reports, and emergency orders. In some cases, you may have to show you made a good-faith effort to continue your trip. It’s important to document when the flight was cancelled, when you contacted the airline or operator, and their response.

If you don’t have receipts for losses, you may be able to provide evidence of your purchase via bank statements or by asking for a receipt from the merchant you bought it from.

READ MORE: How To File a Travel Insurance Claim

2. Contact your insurance provider immediately

Insurance companies usually specify a time period in which you need to contact them about any losses and submit documentation. 

They may be able to grant an extension on providing documents if you are experiencing challenges due to the circumstances, but it’s best to keep them updated about your situation.

Tips for Avoiding Disaster-Prone Areas

While we can’t always know when disaster will strike, there are some ways to ensure you’re prepared and not flying into the eye of a storm — or something worse.

You can check for high-risk seasons (such as hurricane, typhoon, or tornado season) in reputable guidebooks or via your destination’s government website.   

When you are in your destination, download the weather or emergency services apps to stay up to date so you can arrange relocation if necessary.

You may be able to subscribe to government travel advisory alerts by email or text message.

Finally, check the U.S. government’s latest travel advisories. If anything says “do not travel,” insurance policies won’t cover you.

RELATED: Emergency Contacts and Safety Planning for Family Travel

FAQs About Natural Disaster Coverage

What happens if my flight is cancelled due to a hurricane?

If an airline cancels your flight and isn’t able to rebook you on another one (or you decline a rebooking), the airline owes you a full refund of the ticket price. 

Any other compensation will depend on the airline. Because a hurricane (or other force majeure event) is outside the airline’s control, many U.S. airlines won’t reimburse you for costs like hotel stays or food due to the cancellation. International airlines have different policies.

This is a situation where travel insurance comes in handy — your policy could cover you for overnight stays and other expenses if the airline won’t.

Does travel insurance cover additional hotel costs if I’m stranded due to a disaster?

If you’re delayed because of a natural disaster and need to stay at a hotel, you can make a claim under your policy’s trip delay benefits. Just keep in mind that there may be a minimum delay length before reimbursement will kick in.

Do I need “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) insurance to be covered in a disaster?

You may want to consider adding on CFAR coverage if you’ve found a great insurance plan, but it doesn’t cover natural disasters, or if you’re traveling to a high-risk area for natural disasters. 

CFAR coverage lets you cancel your trip for any reason and be reimbursed for some of the nonrefundable cost of your trip.

TL;DR: Will Travel Insurance Cover Natural Disasters?

No matter how much research you do on a destination, natural disasters can strike without warning — turning what was meant to be a relaxing holiday into a nightmare. 

The right insurance coverage can not only provide financial protection, but also 24/7 emergency assistance during a stressful and scary situation.

Purchase insurance as soon as your travel arrangements are booked and make sure you understand what is covered and what isn’t, so you can be as prepared as possible.

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