Epic floods are somewhat of a staple in early mythology (not just the bible exclusively), but the thing to keep in mind is these civilizations did not have the

Epic floods are somewhat of a staple in early mythology (not just the bible exclusively), but the thing to keep in mind is these civilizations did not have the means of detecting the scope of potentially global events. So even if flood myths are based on real events, they're most likely catastrophic but local occurences. This is supported by geological evidence which shows flood events in many regions over time, somewhat fluctuating sea levels, but never a truly global flood.