CINCINNATI — Thousands of travelers are now back home after escaping the Gulf Coast just before Hurricane Milton. Many people have lost vacations they spent months saving up for.
So is there any recourse?
Just weeks after Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton brought even more devastation to Florida. So what if you had plans to visit the area soon or had to leave early. Would travel insurance cover your costs?
Beverly Moorman had to cut her Florida trip short.
"We had a mandatory evacuation off the island,” she said.
While she knows her issues are nothing compared with Gulf Coast residents, coming home early was costly.
"We had to pay for new tickets,” she said. “Our car, we had it the entire time and they wouldn't reimburse us or anything."
Getting a voucher for future travel on an airline is pretty easy in these circumstances, but getting a full refund for an Airbnb or a cruise can be a lot more difficult.
That's where travel insurance can be well worth it.
A couple of years ago, Queen Jones and Sheila Smoot each lost hundreds of dollars when they missed their cruise after their flight was canceled due to bad weather.
They said it was never explained to them that they needed to get insurance due to weather.
According to Nerdwallet, there are two types of insurance and both are worth considering.
Travel insurance covers lost baggage, medical treatment and emergency medical evacuation. Trip cancellation insurance reimburses you if you cancel due to weather, illness or job loss.
What about losing a vacation rental? Vrbo's automatic "book with confidence" guarantee and Airbnb's "air cover" guarantee cover you if the property is no longer available, but not if you back out.
Consider paying an extra hundred dollars or so for insurance, like Beth Askins.
“I always get flight insurance this time of year when going to Florida," she said.
And consider travel insurance, even if it's just a basic plan offered by Airbnb or a cruise line so you don’t waste your money.