I think what makes the Titan story compelling to people is the Greek tragedy aspect of it - the fact that it's entirely those people's own fault. People often have a stronger emotional reaction to a mistake than to an act of nature. And that's what happened here.

When people drown at see as refugees or immigrants merely seeking a better life, we know that they did not die of hubris, but of desperation. It's a different type of tragedy, but at least it's not embarrassing, and so it doesn't sting in quite the same way.

That's the underlying pattern that I think we can see here anyway.