Local flood



The flood detailed in is taken by some as a local or regional flood that was sent by God to destroy all mankind. This deluge is traditionally interpreted as being global in magnitude, but many believe it was simply a regional event. This regional view is commonly held by creationists known as Day-age or Progressive creationists.

Biblical
In the original Hebrew Bible, unlike English translations, the Genesis flood account is ambiguous about whether the flood was universal. It states that "the land was covered" and "life died." But nowhere in the Hebrew is it explicitly stated that the flood covered the whole Earth, nor that all life died in the flood. However, proponents of the global flood argue that phrases such as "Under the Whole Heaven," "all flesh," and "Only Noah and those on the ark remained" give strong indication for the universality of the flood.

In the Bible, it states "And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." - . If the sons of Anak are descended from the Nephilim, and they lived after the Flood, then it seems that some of the Nephilim must have survived the Flood. However, the verse in Numbers was a report from spies, and may have been figurative and not necessarily genealogically accurate. Or there may be different groups known by the name "Nephilim," with the one mentioned in Numbers being unrelated to the one in Genesis.

Other Ancient Authorities
In addition, many ancient historians acknowledged the flood of Noah, but claimed it was regional: "There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews wrote." &mdash; Nicolaus of Damascus, quoted in Josephus, The Antiquity of the Jews, I:5:95.

Plains of Mesopotamia
Harun Yahya, an Islamic creationist, argues that the flood of Nuh occurred on the plains of Mesopotamia. He rejects the historicity of Genesis, claiming it to be badly corrupted, and bases his account of the Flood solely on the Qur'an, which makes no explicit claim as to whether the flood covered the entire Earth or not. He cites archaeological excavation of the city of Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley, which showed strong evidence of a massive flood around 3000 BC. However, he does not explain how there was a "High Place" (the mountains of Ararat according to Genesis, and Mount Judi according to the Qur'an) for the ark to rest on in the flat Mesopotamian plain, nor does he explain why God found it necessary to have Nuh build the ark and store the animals if they could have simply travelled 100 miles to avoid the flood. Finally, the evidence Woolley found of local flooding in Ur and other Mesopotamian cities is not evidence that there was not another flood that did cover the rest of the world.

Black Sea
Black sea