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What really happened at the time of the Flood? Did God get so upset with His wayward creation that He went into a rage and wiped them all out?

To be honest, a surface reading of the story could (and has) caused many people to believe that the God of the Old Testament is a genocidal maniac. Just read what renowned atheist Richard Dawkins has to say:

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty,  unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic   cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” (The God Delusion)

Can a God of love ever be the direct cause of destruction? John writes that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Paul writes, “Love never does anything that is harmful to its neighbor [any other being]. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the Law” (Romans 13:10). Jesus taught that God is always “kind to the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35). Peter says God is “not willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9). And God Himself says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11). What if we found out that God was really on a rescue mission instead of a mission of destruction?