Hurricane - Hurricane Insurance - Hurricane e ShortTermHealth.com

Hurricane Travel Insurance

What is Hurricane Insurance?

Worldwide Trip Protector and Worldwide Trip Protector Gold have coverage for mandatory evacuation in effect due to an anticipated natural disaster and will evacuate you for reasons other than medical emergency.

Cruise, Tour & Travel, Protect Assist and Travel Guard Essential plans cover you if your destination is made uninhabitable due to a natural disaster. This coverage is available only to residents of Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin.

Travel Plus and TraveLite plans offer standard coverage plus if your destination is made uninhabitable due to a natural disaster.

Vacation Guarantee Gold and Vacation Guarantee Silver plans offer standard coverage.

Global Alert plans offer standard coverage.

SRI Round Trip plans offer standard coverage.

Hurricanes such as Katrina this year, Jeanne, Frances and Ivan in 2004, can totally disrupt your travel plans. Bad weather not only impacts popular destinations such as Florida and the Caribbean but can affect travels worldwide as we saw during last year's Asian earthquake and tsunami. We offer travel insurance policies that include an inclement weather clause to cover such disastrous events. This clause covers most types of bad weather including hurricanes, tropical depressions, tropical storms, floods and snow storms.

When shopping for travel insurance, you must be aware of coverage offered under the inclement weather clause. If you live in a hurricane prone area such as Gulf Coast states - Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas - you need to make sure that the policy you are buying includes coverage if your home becomes uninhabitable due to flooding. Note that bad weather impacts all coastal states including North Carolina, California and Hawaii. If you are traveling to a hurricane prone area, you must also make sure that your hotel or vacation property will be covered in case of a weather related emergency.

Although you can purchase a trip cancellation plan within 24 hours of your departure, when it comes to hurricanes, you need to purchase insurance before a hurricane is named. Recently, Hurricane Beta and Hurricane Gamma were named. All policies purchased after a hurricane is named will exclude coverage for weather related damage as a result of the hurricane.

We tend to forget how frequently hurricanes cause their destruction. Included is a list of some of the past hurricanes. Hurricanes are ranked in severity by their category.

What you need to know about weather-related insurance clauses:

Most plans will allow you to file a claim if your home made uninhabitable as a result of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, flood or fire.
Very few plans will allow you to file a claim if there is a mandatory evacuation in effect due to an anticipated natural disaster. We found one company that does.
Very few plans will allow you to file a claim if your accommodations at your destinations are made uninhabitable. There are some plans that will cover you with restrictions. Please see a list below. Most insurance companies state that it is hotel's responsibility to reimburse you under these circumstances. Check your hotel's terms and conditions before booking.
Most plans will allow you to file a claim if you are called for duty to clean-up after a natural disaster. This applies to army reservists, members of the national guard and government agencies such as FEMA.
Reimbursements are limited if your travel supplier (airline, cruise line, tour operator) cancels travel due to a weather related emergency. Your travel supplier is responsible for such emergencies. Travel insurance will typically only cover you for re-issue fees of your tickets.
All our plans offer coverage for airline delays related to bad weather. There are travel delay and missed connection coverages that describe exact benefits for each plan. Typically, you have to wait 4 or more hours plus incur hotel or meal expenses to be reimbursed.
Most of our plans have an emergency evacuation coverage. However, there is only one company that will evacuate you for other than a medical emergency.
Most of our plans will provide you a 24-hour assistance services. These services include help with hotel / rental car reservations, money wire transfers, lost documents and translation services.

DEFINITIONS

trip cancellation coverage - protects you before you depart on your trip. 100% of your non-refundable trip costs will be refunded to you.
trip interruption coverage - protects you after you have departed. Some plans will protect you up to 150% of your trip cost because one-way air fares can be expensive.
travel delay / missed connection - will reimburse you for expenses incurred to catch up with your scheduled trip. Typically, $200 a day for hotels and meals will be provided.

How do Companies Compare?

Trip cancellation coverage for bad weather is available on Total Travel Protection and Comprehensive Travel Protection products. You need to include your total trip cost in order to be eligible for this coverage. Travel Medical Insurance products do not include this coverage. Companies that offer best coverage for inclement weather are listed first.

Category Codes

Hurricanes are divided by severity into category codes:

Category	Wind Speed	Damage
1	74 to 95 mph	Storm surge of 4 to 5 foot, minimal damage
2	96 mph to 110 mph	Storm surge of 6 to 8 feet, moderate damage
3	111 mph to 130 mph	Storm surge of 9 to 12 feet, extensive damage
4	131 mph to 155 mph	Storm surge 13 feet to 18 feet, extreme damage
5	greater than 155 mph	Storm surge higher than 18 feet, damage catastrophic

2006 Hurricanes

Hurricane season takes place in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Central Pacific from June 1 to November 30. In the Eastern Pacific the season is from May 15 to November 30.

Name	Named
Alberto	Yes
Beryl	Yes
Chris	Yes
Debby	Yes
Ernesto	Yes
Florence	Yes
Gordon	Yes
Helene	Yes
Isaac	Yes
Joyce
Kirk
Leslie
Michael
Nadine
Oscar
Patty
Rafael
Sandy
Tony
Valerie
William

Recent Hurricanes

Listed below are some of the more recent hurricanes.

Name	Year	Areas Affected
Agnes	1972	122 killed in Florida Panhandle, Georgia, North Carolina, over $3 billion in damage
Alicia	1983	22 killed in Galveston, TX
Allen	1980	over $100 million in damage in Antilles, Mexico, South Texas
Allison	2001	41 killed and $5 billion in damage in Texas
Andrew	1992	23 killed and over $26 billion in damage in Bahamas, South Florida, Louisiana
Anita	1977	10 killed in Mexico and Texas border
Audrey	1957	390 killed in Louisiana and North Texas
Betsy	1965	Bahamas, Southeast Florida, 76 killed in Louisiana
Beulah	1967	Antilles, Mexico, South Texas
Bob	1991	18 killed in North Carolina, Northeast U.S. and Canadian Maritimes
Camille	1969	143 killed in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
Carla	1961	Texas
Carmen	1974	Mexico, over $150 million in damage in Central Louisiana
Carol	1954	Over $1 billion in damage in New England
Celia	1970	20 killed in Corpus Christi, TX
Cesar	1996	Honduras
Charley	2004	$14 billion in damage in Florida
Cleo	1964	150 killed in Lesser Antilles, Haiti, Cuba, Southeast Florida
Connie	1955	Flooding in New England
David	1979	2,000 killed in Dominican Republic and Dominica, affected Eastern U.S.
Dennis	2005	Florida Panhandle
Diana	1990	96 killed in Mexico
Diane	1950	Mid-Atlantic U.S. & Northeast U.S.
Donna	1960	Bahamas, Florida and Eastern U.S. - $1 billion in damage
Dora	1964	Jacksonville, FL
Elena	1985	over $1 billion in damage in Mississippi, Alabama, Western Florida
Eloise	1975	76 killed in Hispañola, Northwest Florida, Alabama
Emily	2005	Yucatan Peninsula
Fabian	2003	8 killed in Bermuda
Fifi	1974	8,000 killed in Honduras
Flora	1963	Over 7,000 killed in Haiti and Cuba
Floyd	1999	77 killed and $6 billion in damage in North Carolina, Eastern seaboard
Fran	1996	26 killed and $3 billion in damage in Carolinas
Frances	2004	$9 billion in damage in Bahamas, Florida, Appalachians
Frederic	1979	over $1 billion in damage in Alabama and Mississippi
Georges	1998	533 killed and $5 billion in damage in Antilles and Florida Keys, Mississippi, Alabama
Gilbert	1988	318 killed and caused $5 billion in damage in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula
Gloria	1985	over $900 million in damage in North Carolina, Northeast U.S., Long Island, NY
Gracie	1959	22 killed in South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia
Hattie	1961	400 killed in British Honduras
Hazel	1954	1,000 killed in Haiti, 200 in the US East Coast
Hilda	1964	38 killed in New Orleans, LA
Hortense	1996	21 killed in Puerto Rico
Hugo	1989	76 killed over and $10 billion in damage in South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Montserrat and US Virgin Islands
Inez	1966	1,000 killed in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Mexico
Ione	1955	North Carolina
Iris	2001	Belize
Isabel	2003	51 killed in Outer Banks of North Carolina, damage in Washington, DC
Isidore	2002	7 killed and $300 million in damage in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Louisiana, Mississippi
Ivan	2004	Grenada, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Jamaica and Alabama
Janet	1955	500 killed in Lesser Antilles, Belize, Mexico
Jeanne	2004	3,000 killed in Haiti, $6 billion in damage in Central Florida
Joan	1988	148 killed in Nicaragua and 68 killed in Curacao, Venezuela, Colombia
Juan	2003	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Katrina	2005	Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastline, at least $75 billion in damages
Keith	2000	70 killed in Central America and Mexico
Klaus	1990	4 killed in Georgia
Lenny	1999	17 killed in Lesser Antilles
Lili	2002	13 killed and $860 million in damage in in St. Vincent, Jamaica, US
Luis	1995	St. Martin, Antigua, Barbuda, and the British Virgin Islands
Marilyn	1995	Bermuda and St. Thomas
Michelle	2001	17 killed in Honduras, Belize, Cuba, Jamaica
Mitch	1998	11,000 killed in Central America - Nicaragua, Honduras
Opal	1995	59 killed and $3 billion in damage in Guatemala, Mexico and Florida Panhandle
Rita	2005	$16 to $20 billion in damage mostly in the United States, Mexico, and Cuba
Roxanne	1995	14 killed and $1.5 billion in damage in Yucatan Peninsula
Zeta	2005	Final storm of the season formed on 12/30/2005