Sorry for misunderstanding the question. Again, I am not here to defend the flood as a certainty the way that we understand it. clearly it comes down from the epic of Gilgamesh and probably earlier stories. The stories meaning is that the world has been destroyed because it was evil, and a remnant was saved to repopulate it.
That I can believe. There are many philosophies that say that the earth has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. If I were to discover that there was no Noah, it would have no affect on my beliefs. There are just as many problems with the story of Adam and Eve or Cain and Able... but these are the oldest stories on earth. I think we need to concentrate on the gist of them, not the details.
Edited by olletrap, : spelling