In New England it rained over the weekend two days straight. During that two days NE received over 17 inches of rain. Haven't had a rain like that in over 50 years. Because NE is a plateau (of sorts), the run off was fairly quick, yet still hundreds of thousands of basements and cellars were flooded, as were streets and rivers.
Where I live we are at an elevation of 300 feet. And our river dumps directly into the Potomac, yet when we get three inches of rain (or more accurately when North Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania) get three inches of rain, I know to move our land vehicles to high ground and break out the john boat and motor, cause we're going to see the river five feet from our front door, instead of 50 yards away. My drive will have 10 feet of water over it. The Monocacy goes from 50 yards wide, to the width of the Detroit river (over a mile wide), in about 12 hours, and stays that way for 48 hours.
Now imagine if it rained in an area for 40 days and 40 nights at the rate of one inch per hour.
There is estimated 326 million Trillion gallons of water on earth at any given time.
Now let us consider: 98% of the earth's water is in the oceans. It's already there in its water bed. That leaves 2% unaccounted for. We lose a tiny bit of water every day through the upper atmospher (ultra-violet light breaks down water molecules), but gain new water through deep earth volcanic activity. So the loss and replenishment of earth's water remain roughly the same.
If the earth gave up all of its water (from the ground, the ice caps, the glaciers, and the atmosphere) today, The world wide sea level would rise between 220-300 feet. This is substantial, but not earth land threatening.
Baltimore, Washington DC, Seattle, New York City, Los Angeles, etc., would be underwater, but the the Smokies and the Appalachea uplands would simply be beach front property. The Mississippi river would become the Mississippi inland sea, effectively splitting the US into two land masses, But most of the Northern US and Canada would remain intact.
If as some opine, the Atmosphere was twice as dense during the alleged time of Noah's flood, then the sea level (after the rain of all H2O), could only rise an additional 100 feet. (now 500 feet over the surface of the earth). Still, Michigan (at 625 feet above sea level), would be safe. And still the mean elevation of the United States would not have been breached. (2500 feet)
If as a few opine, the atmosphere was at three times as dense during the alleged time of Noah's flood (besides nearly being able to breathe in water), man would have been under three atmospheres of pressure (or 45 LBS per square inch), living in desserts would have been impossible for man (his lungs would dry up like prunes), rain would have been a daily event throughout the world (the atmosphere can not hold that much water in suspension), negating the possibility of desserts to begin with.
And the sea level would only rise an additional 100 feet world wide.
Now, the only remote possiblity for the entire earth to be covered with water, would be if the tectonic plates settled for 40 days and 40 nights, by over 20,000 feet. In short all volcanic activity would have to cease, the mantle would have to cool and contract (earth would have to get smaller by 1000 miles in diameter), all within 40 days...that would have also caused a global ice age.
Can God do that? Sure, but we would see the evidence of that activity. Remember, most Flood stories go back 4000 - 6000 years ago. That would result in obviously fresh scars all over the place.
Of course, that would mean (if plausible), that man was much denser in build then, as opposed to now, gravity would have been greater (by 20%), and man would have been much stronger. the women would have made our current musclemen look like wimps. It would also mean that the Arc would have had to double as an hyperbolic chamber, allowing man and animal to adjust to the new world (lesser atmosphere, less density, less gravitaional pull).
Things to consider.
v/r
Q
