Why does the Torah say, "Emcheh" (I will blot out); rather than the more common "Ashchis" (I will destroy)?
Rashi: Because Adam was made of earth, Hashem decided to bring a flood of water and cause him to dissolve.
Why did Hashem decide to destroy the animals, birds and vermin in the Flood? What did they do wrong?
Rashi #1: Because they too, became sexually perverted in their ways.
Rashi #2: Since they were created on behalf of man, and if man was destroyed, what purpose would the animals serve?
Why is the name Hashem (which is Midas ha'Rachamim) used here for punishment?
Bereishis Rabah (73): Woe to Resha'im, who change Midas ha'Rachamim to Midas ha'Din! 1
Mishnas R. Aharon (Vol. 1, p. 143): How do they change Midas ha'Rachamim to Midas ha'Din? Midas ha'Rachamim obligates doing Din.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'From man to beast' - Even they corrupted their ways. Alternatively, everything else was created [only] for the sake of man...." But later (Rashi to 6:12), he only cites the first reason, that the animals had corrupted their ways by interbreeding?
Mizrachi (to 6:12) - This Rashi fits only with his first explanation in this verse, namely that the animals corrupted their own ways. According to the second explanation, however, it was the people who would cross-breed the animals (Sanhedrin 108a) (and the animals were not to blame).
Gur Aryeh (to 6:12) #1: Both explanations concur that the animals would [voluntarily] mate with other species. According to the second opinion, however, this was not the reason that they were destroyed, as they had never been commanded not to do so.
Gur Aryeh (ibid.) #2: After the animals were initially cross-bred by people, the animals continued to do so of their own volition. 1
