First we must remember when reading the accounts of a flood that happened in the BC past what were the understanding at that time about the word translated "earth" in the hebrew txt. Earth simply meant dry land and the cosmology of those times was not that the Earth was a sphere floating around the sun. So a interpritation that doesn't not take that into account is very lacking.
It could simply mean no dry land was visible but that was the way they expressed things in those day with no "scientific knowledge" available at the period in human history. We must not forget the understanding of those times when understanding those ancient words and their meaning in modern times.