Did the flood really occur?

[ElDinero]

But salty, you are not getting it. Forget local/global. Saying that the reason you believe it needed to be global is because otherwise you wouldn't need the ark is asinine. There is no evidence that there ever was an ark! There's no reason to believe that any of that story took place. The animals, the ark, Noah, God. Forget them. The most plausible explanation is that there was a local flood. It grew in legend with other people adding bits to it in a Chinese whispers style. The story you know today is the result.