Yes, long before the story of Noah there was Atrahasis, who turned his reed hut into a boat when warned of the impending flood. In that story, the gods were angry about the noise made by the newly-created humans.
The story probably travelled northwest from the Tigris-Euphrates delta (an area that did tend to flood) to the Canaanite lands (possibly the city of Ugarit) and eventually reached the ears of whoever compiled or composed the book of Genesis. |