Insurance is a game of risk and should not be played emotionally. The first rule of avoiding a disaster is to not be where the disaster is. You made a wise and informed decision not to be too close to the water. Others may have thought the flood would never come to their house. They lost the bet they made.
I do not have flood insurance. My home is about 200 feet above sea level and is not near any river, creek or stream. I DO have earthquake insurance (for replacement value rather than for original cost) because I live in Seattle and I figure that before I die (~30 years or less) it is likely that Seattle will experience a SERIOUS earthquake. MY neighbors and I have undergone disaster preparedness training so that we will be able to get along okay with about a week's disruption in water, electricity, gas and supermarket access.
In my opinion, the only person who can say they "cannot afford" insurance are those who have sufficiently large personal resources that they can be "self-insured." I ain't that guy. Is it possible that I will pay lots of money for insurance that will never pay off? Sure, but the way earthquake is becoming more difficult to find and more expensive when you do find it tells me the insurance statistitians and underwriters are less willing to take this bet.
This is another important topic in the series of "lessons from real life" that you have started, Simon.
Dubs have been dipped in the "free-lunch" mentality that teaches them that they don't need to do anything other than stand on a corner holding magazines in the air ("sacred service").