Flood insurance isn’t expensive if you don’t choose to pay for it. I can walk to the beach in 10 minutes and have never had flood insurance. I live between the intracoastal waterway and the ocean, and I have never (in 30 years) been afraid of water. I’m afraid of wind only when it comes to storms.
We used to live in Clearwater and we never worried about floods either but had to buy flood insurance because we had a mortgage.