From A Storehouse of Knowledge

The great flood was the flood sent by God to destroy humanity, land animals, and birds, except Noah, his family, and the creatures God commanded him to take on board the Ark.

While the Biblical account of the great flood is the most commonly known, especially to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, there are many extremely similar accounts of a flood found in cultures across the world, from Greece to Hawaii to Australia, as well as other Middle Eastern accounts.

Over the years, bibliosceptics have questioned the feasibility of the Great Flood or claimed that it was only a regional flood.

Biblical Account

According to Genesis 6-8 of the Bible, God looked upon the Earth and was sickened by the wickedness of man and by the existence of the Nephilim. All of humanity had turned from him and that "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," save for one man, Noah. God decided to cause a great flood, that would destroy everything living on land, including birds. He spoke to Noah, warned him of the impending disaster, and told him to build an ark, that he might be saved. He was to build it out of gopherwood and according to certain measurements. When completed, it would hold his family and representatives of all kinds of land-dwelling, air-breathing animal. These representatives were a pair of most kinds, and seven pairs of some.^[1]

Noah went to work and continued despite the jeering of his neighbours. He tried to warn them of their impending doom, but their hearts had been hardened away from the message he brought.

Timeline

The following timeline of the flood has been derived from the biblical description and the dates calculated by James Ussher. (NB: This table needs a bit of fine-tuning.)

Ussher decided that creation likely occurred on 23 October 4004 BC21 September 4003 BC
28 Elul 0 AM. Hence, in the table below, a new year starts on 23 October 2348 BC3 October 2347 BC
7 Cheshvan 1414 He
7 Ethanim 1657 AM.

Date (according to Ussher)	event	Description of when	Reference
30 November 2349 BC10 November 2348 BC 5 Kislev 1413 He 5 Kislev 1656 AM	Noah and family board the ark	Seven days before start of flood	Genesis 7:1-4
7 December 2349 BC17 November 2348 BC 12 Kislev 1413 He 12 Kislev 1656 AM	The flood starts	600th year of Noah's life, 17th day of 2nd month	Genesis 7:11
18 January 2348 BC29 December 2348 BC 24 Teveth 1413 He 25 Teveth 1656 AM	Rain stops	40 days after start	Genesis 7:17
6 May 2348 BC16 April 2347 BC 14 Iyar 1413 He 15 Abib 1656 AM	Waters covered the mountains to a depth of 15 cubits22.5 feet 270 inches 685.8 cm, wiping out all air-breathing, land-dwelling animals.	By 150 days after start	Genesis 7:20-24, Genesis 8:3-4
19 July 2348 BC29 June 2347 BC 29 Tammuz 1413 He 30 Sivan 1656 AM	Mountain tops appear	1st day of 10th month	Genesis 8:5
28 August 2348 BC8 August 2347 BC 10 Elul 1413 He 10 Av 1656 AM	Raven sent out	40 days later	Genesis 8:6-7
4 September 2348 BC15 August 2347 BC 17 Elul 1413 He 17 Av 1656 AM	Dove sent out		Genesis 8:8-9
11 September 2348 BC22 August 2347 BC 24 Elul 1413 He 24 Av 1656 AM	Dove sent out again and returned with a leaf	seven days later	Genesis 8:10-11
18 September 2348 BC29 August 2347 BC 2 Tishrei 1414 He 2 Elul 1656 AM	Dove sent out for third time and did not return	seven days later	Genesis 8:12
23 October 2348 BC3 October 2347 BC 7 Cheshvan 1414 He 7 Ethanim 1657 AM	Noah removes the covering	601st year of Noah's life, first day of first month	Genesis 8:13
18 December 2348 BC28 November 2347 BC 5 Teveth 1414 He 4 Kislev 1657 AM	Disembarkation	27th day of second month	Genesis 8:14-16

References

1. ↑ Genesis 7:2-3(ESV)