I don't read it as only applying to all encompassing judgment. And no, I am not a humanist, I beleive Jesus is the way, the truth and the light
"I don't read it as only applying to all encompassing judgment."
When God destroyed all flesh by the flood that is what He did. He judged all of mankind as wicked and worthy of destruction and carried His sentence out. That is all encompassing judgement of the human race at that time and it will happen again when Christ returns. There were no survivors other than Noah , his family and the animals. You are trying to add things that are not there. It is only important that we know that it happened and why it happened. Noah's example of faith and obedience to God are also very important. It is also a good lesson to Christians about the next time this happens with Christ's return.
As our Lord said in Luke17:26-35
26 As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. 27 They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise as it was in the days of Lot--they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom fire and sulphur rained from heaven and destroyed them all-- 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. 31 On that day, let him who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away; and likewise let him who is in the field not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left."
I am in no way implying that you are a secular humanist but merely using that as an example of how people tend to react when Scripture reveals very specific truths that are infallible and are thus viewed as having to be interpreted. People who are secular humanists do not see the Bible as the inspired Word of God and suffer from the sin of intellectual pride and self reliance which prevents them from entering the Kingdom of God and enjoying all its blessings and benefits.
If you think that God used the New Orleans flood to destroy people in such a way as to contradict what He said to Noah, then doesn't that mean that you don't believe God's promise to Noah that God wouldn't do it again, and that God's sign, the rainbow, was invalid and a lie?