Needs to know Hebrew.
To be utterly frank with you, there are parts of the Bible that don’t translate well to modern words and context unless you spend time studying them from as much of a Hebraic perspective as is possible. I don’t know when exactly the flood is estimated to have taken place, and I don’t really know if it was worldwide or just in the local Israel (and nearby lands) area. I always think that English translations of Hebrew can miss details that should be considered. I do think there was a big flood, but when and where?
I’m not necessarily chalking this all up to both 1: translation error and 2: adding modern context to an ancient book, it’s just something else to be considered.
Minor detail: Noah might not have been in the boat with only his wife; his 3 sons and their wives might also have been on for the ride. That still only makes up to 8 people, as far as I can tell.
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Lastly (not exactly in your question but since it’s on my mind as it’s closely related,) here’s an example for how translations might not always explain things in the most straight-forward way, how they might “hit the nail on the head” in a way, but it might not be driven down far enough for everyone to realize without studying:
When Noah got drunk on wine and “was seen by his son Ham,” why did Noah then curse Canaan who wasn’t even born yet? This is something that bothered me when I first read it, because in English, it sounds like Noah is angrily saying “damn you!” over something that shouldn’t even be a problem.
It occurred to me that Noah wasn’t cursing Canaan at all; he was saying something more akin to “Canaan? He’s deeply messed up for many reasons.” And why’s that? Canaan wasn’t even born yet, so how should Noah even know his name? The answer I found was Noah’s son, Ham, (R7 alert:) probably raped his own Mom who gave birth to Canaan. So, Canaan looks to be a result of incest.
The conclusion isn’t quite obvious in English translations, but if we refer to The Law (Torah) books, the term “seeing his/her nakedness” (R7) is an old term referring to having sex, and that’s what Ham saw; “he saw his father’s nakedness in the tent.“ But wouldn’t that refer to (R7) homosexual sex? If “Noah” refers to Noah and his wife, almost the same as how a surname refers to a family, and Noah’s saying “Cursed be Canaan” who isn’t even born yet, then the answer is “No.”