Texas Flood Victims May Claim from Travel Insurance, says Squaremouth

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May 29, 2015, 05:56 ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Record-breaking floods in Texas have left people stranded and homes ruined, just as summer's travel season begins. While travel insurance can't protect these homes, it can offer some benefits to travelers both at home and away. Squaremouth, America's fastest growing travel insurance comparison site, explains how.

Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption are two of the most popular benefits within a travel insurance policy. A standard provision of these benefits is coverage in the event a traveler's primary residence becomes uninhabitable by a flood or other natural disaster. Some policies even extend coverage to travelers whose business operations are impacted by a flood.

In order to be eligible for these benefits, travelers must have purchased their policy before the storm or natural disaster occurs, and must have insured some or all of their trip cost. Unfortunately for travelers who haven't purchased a policy yet, it is too late to do so for any coverage related to the floods in Texas.

Coverage if You're Already Gone
For those with a policy who are already traveling, and whose home is destroyed by the flood, the Trip Interruption benefit may provide coverage for the cost for their return home, as well as their unused trip expenses.

Coverage if You're Still at Home
Policyholders with upcoming trips, and whose homes have been destroyed, may have coverage under the Trip Cancellation benefit, to cancel their trip and be refunded 100% of their prepaid and nonrefundable trip costs.

Some policies require the flood or natural disaster to occur within a specific amount of days from the traveler's departure, typically between 10 and 30, while other more lenient policies do not specify a time limit for the event to occur.

"People often associate travel insurance policies with protection for events that occur while they are away, but in some cases, what impacts your trip happens at home," said Megan Singh, Squaremouth's Director of Marketing. "Travel insurance policies can offer coverage in either event."

ABOUT SQUAREMOUTH:
Squaremouth is an online company that compares travel insurance products from virtually every major travel insurance provider in the United States. Using Squaremouth's comparison engine and third party customer reviews, travelers can research and compare insurance products side-by-side. More information can be found at www.squaremouth.com.

AVAILABLE TOPIC EXPERT:
Megan Singh
[email protected]
(727) 378-0983

SOURCE Squaremouth