I'd like to check alternative interpretations of the word translated as "fountains"
I'm convinced there was a real event and that it was more than the locals were accustomed to. Harks back to a Sumerian flood tale in many ways.
Sounds very reasonable. An enormous disaster that killed a huge number of people and devastated their cities. Conceivably in amongst it all a man saved his family and a couple of their goats on a boat.