Tempting the Extremes
I think the statement from one of the people whose home just flooded near the east coast reminds me of other situations where humans have tempted the extremes. He said, "When you build your home on the banks of a river, you have to expect that there might come a flood."

Now what were people thinking who built resorts on the mountainside of the dormant volcano, Mt. St. Helens? What were they thinking when they built a bed & breakfast on top of the San Adreas fault in California, and why did we stay there overnight on our trip up Hwy 1? Why do people build beach houses on stilts on the coastal regions where hurricanes are known to exist? Why do cities and even entire nations build homes and businesses below sea level and then try to defend them from the water by building levees? Why are there residences in Thompson Canyon, CO, where frequent flash floods occur, or homes built in the downstream spillway of huge hydroelectric dams?

It must be the same human desire to tempt the extremes that millions of people are making assuming that they can somehow withstand the fires of hell. Denying that it exists doesn't make it go away. Denying that the infinite, creative God exists also doesn't make Him cease to be, or make the unbeliever seem smarter than the rest of the people. If the greatest prophet who ever lived (even stated by Islam that Jesus was a prophet) believed in an eternal hell and spoke of it in descriptive terms, then how smart is it to disagree with a person who has infinite and intimate knowledge of the unknown?