Noah: was there really a flood?

So I've been thinking about Noah and our discussions on Genesis.

Reading the wiki article about flood mythology, it seems that most of the world's cultures have giant floods as part of their tradition. In most of the stories someone builds a boat or goes to the mountains with "seeds of life" or a way to repopulate the earth.

To me, oral tradition isn't usually factual truth but is usually based on a truth and is remembered in a meaningful way.

Geology research shows that there is no evidence of a global flood, but instances of several major floods throughout the world at various times from 1,000 to 10,000 BC.

So I wonder -- was there a global flood? Were there several floods that paralleled each other? Was Noah's flood a regional flood that covered the whole "known world" of Noah's time?