How did the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh compare with the story of Atrahasis?

In Mesopotamian religion, both the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Myth of Atrahasis feature a flood sent by the gods to destroy humanity, with a wise human protagonist warned by the god Enki (Ea) to build a boat to survive.123

While they share these core motifs, their focus and scope differ:

• The Myth of Atrahasis: This narrative provides a broader explanation for the flood, detailing the creation of humans to relieve the gods of their toil. It describes how humans multiplied and became so noisy that they disturbed the god Enlil’s sleep. Enlil attempted to reduce the population through plague, famine, and drought before finally resorting to the flood. The myth emphasizes the precariousness of human existence and the necessity of staying within divine limits.3
• The Epic of Gilgamesh: The flood story appears in Tablet XI as a self-contained account told by the survivor, Utnapishtim, to Gilgamesh. While it retains the theme of divine instruction, its primary purpose within the epic is to explain how Utnapishtim attained immortality, serving as a focal point for Gilgamesh’s own failed quest to escape death.452