Recently there was a surprising source arguing for the historicity of the biblical flood—The New York Times. An article on sea level rise in human history noted:

In the 19th century, ethnographers realized that virtually every old civilization had some kind of flood myth in its literature. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, waters so overwhelm the mortals that the gods grow frightened, too. In India's version, Lord Vishnu warns a man to take refuge in a boat, carrying seeds. In the Bible, God orders Noah to carry two of every living creature on his ark.

"I don't think the biblical deluge is just a fairy tale," said Terence J. Hughes, a retired University of Maine glaciologist living in South Dakota. "I think some kind of major flood happened all over the world, and it left an indelible imprint on the collective memory of mankind that got preserved in these stories."

That flooding would have occurred at the end of the last ice age.