Emperor Yu and the Great Flood

One of the problems with the adoration of science and scientists is that people often take their speculations as something to write home about, even when they don't bother to do serious research. There's a story in China about an earthquake, a river drying up, a dam bursting, and Yu Xia helping the people to recover. He was called Emperor Yu the Great (or variations on the title), but since the events were to have take place quite a spell back, the flood story and even Yu himself were subjects of debate.

Emperor Yu the Great by Ma Lin

It appears that the flood (that the Chinese referred to as the "Great Flood") itself has been verified. Geologist David Montgomery made an off-the-cuff speculation that legends surrounding this may have been the source of the Genesis Flood. [EDIT: I misread, he said that about the alleged Black Sea flood. My apologies.] There are serious differences between large, local floods such as the ones at Lake Missoula, the Black Sea, and others when compared to the historical details of the Flood account in Genesis.

In August 2016, a team of researchers led by former Peking University seismologist Qianlong Wu said a major landslide, triggered by an earthquake about 4,000 years ago, blocked the Yellow River at Jishi Gorge—about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) west of Beijing—eventually causing an enormous flood. The researchers propose that the landslide created a natural dam about 240 m above the present river level behind which a massive body of water built up, estimated at 12 to 17 km³. After six to twelve months the dam overtopped, releasing downstream a torrent of water, mud and debris. Sediments were eroded from the gorge by the dam outburst, transported downstream, and deposited in the lower Jishi Gorge and Guanting Basin. These sediments consisted of angular pieces of rock and other material that were eroded from the gorge. Sediment deposits at the mouth of the gorge are up to 20 m thick and include boulders with a diameter as large as 2 m.

Hey, Yu! Don't run off! To finish reading, click on "Chinese flood at Jishi Gorge is not Noah’s Flood". Another may be of interest, "Chinese Flood Legend Was Historic".