Question: The rain lasted for 40 days. Why then did Noah remain with the animals for nearly a year?

Answer: Very interesting question! I’ll give you my thoughts. The purpose of the flood was to give mankind a fresh start, to start over with a clean slate. Man was so corrupt, society as it was could not be salvaged—man had to start over. Therefore the flood had to completely wipe out the previous world, so as to begin building anew. Now, a fetus begins to become formed at 40 days – this the rain of the flood lasted 40 days—to completely wipe out the formation of man before the flood. The other time frame, one year, is the time the water remained above the highest points on earth. The year is the basic unit of a person’s life. We say a person is such and such years old. Thus, the earth remained completely submerged to erase all remnants of man’s basic unit of life—a year.

Be Well, Rabbi Yoel Spotts