"And that house also is 30' above sea level, so it's not even a flood-rated area."

Exactly, and it depends on the precise location. We're not even 10' above SL but we don't flood (Zone D). 2 weeks before Irma we got 20" of rain over the weekend and then another 20" with Irma (2017). The street in front of my house had maybe a couple inches of water (like about ankle-deep or so) and that drained away quickly, With Ian, we just had wet streets.

BTW, I think it should go without saying that you're only going to see the most devastated areas on TV or the internet. The media has no interest in showing you areas that are basically undamaged.