Given the involvement of one Robert 'Titanic Finder' Ballard, I wonder how long it will be before this is misused by Creationists and Biblical literalists:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2012/12/12/06/51/noahs-biblical-flood-was-real
Indeed, the title of the linked article already shows a degree of ambiguity.
Suggestions that localised, historical events gave rise to narratives of a 'great flood' have been circulating for quite some time. Nothing in the 'facts behind the story' arguments substantiate the Biblical narrative itself though. Saying they did is like saying that evidence of a historical 'Jesus' (who wouldn't have even been called Jesus) is evidence of Jesus, a character in the work of fiction called the Bible. Yes, fictional tales and figures can have a basis in reality but these don't make the stories a direct account.
The flood in question would not have been global nor caused by God opening the holes in the firmament (at that point in time certain people believed the sky was a dome - the firmament - that kept water out, hence the reason for it being blue). Flood myths predate Noah's own and can be found in Babylonian cultural traditions.
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