Well there's no doubt that the Bible story is a version of the same story found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. However, floods are common enough in many places of the world, and so are boats. Without a warning it would be difficult for there to be survivors, if you use a boat - an obvious idea - it needs to be ready, Animal survival needs to be explained and what more natural than to include animals on the boat ?
Bellamy, by the way was a populariser of Hoerbiger's Welteislehre ("Universal Ice Theory") pseudoscience, so I would be very wary of trusting him as a source.