Following the catastrophic floods in America and India, Andrea Norris, head of business development from All Clear Insurance Services offers advice for holidaymakers to the affected destinations. 

She says, these events are classified as natural disasters are are generally excluded from cancellation cover by insurers.

However, anyone due to travel to an affect region in the immediate future should contact their tour operator who should offer an alternative.

If customers are due to travel imminently, they may wish to defer their trip. They should be able to amend the dates of the travel insurance they have purchased.

If customers are already in the region and need to move to alternative accommodation or book new flights, these items should be covered by insurance (providing the policy allows for this).

Their insurance cover should also automatically extend if they are delayed returning home.

Finally, if the customer is on a cruise in the affected region and has purchased specific cruise insurance, they would be able to claim compensation for missed ports / changed itinerary.