Yes a 'literal interpretation' is one thing but no actual historian would discard it as a first hand account, you have events like the struggle against the Assyrians that are record on both sides. And all the fire & brimstone speech was more or less how things were recorded in the region at the time.
As for flood myths, there's also an extended period of time where the old ice age was ending and water levels started rising, with habital land slowly becoming reclaimed by the sea. That's going to freak people out and leave a long lasting impression.
