In the Epic of Gilgamesh, how many days did the flood storm last?

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the flood storm lasted six days and seven nights.

The flood episode says that the storm and flood overwhelmed the land for six days and seven nights. On the seventh day, the storm subsided, allowing Utnapishtim to open the vessel and observe the situation outside.

This duration is distinct from the 40 days and 40 nights of rain in the Genesis flood narrative. The two stories are often discussed together because both include a chosen survivor, a large vessel, animals, birds, and a post-flood sacrifice, but their chronologies are not identical.

The surviving Epic of Gilgamesh text was written in Akkadian cuneiform, with the flood story preserved on Tablet XI. It is part of a larger poem about Gilgamesh, rather than an independent account centered only on the flood.