some folks here do not seem to understand the word 'hermeneutics'
let's reference I Peter 3:20-21 in the NIV and the Berean translation. the KJ is not perfect and is not inspired and actually has numerous erroneous translations in it but if you are stuck on that particular translation, it still does not create the understanding that the waters of the flood saved people.
"and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"- NIV
"And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ"- BSB
now let's try, really try, to retain what those verses say ... WATER SYMBOLIZES BAPTISM IN WATER ...
now, let's use the brains God gave us and pay attention to the fact that the waters of the flood wiped out all life on earth
the people in the ark that God told Noah to build, floated above the water that was drowning all that were outside the ark, and Noah and his family were prevented from drowning
the only sense in which water saved people, was by keeping the ark floating above the terror happening below it
it is utter ignorance and a stubborn and self righteous refusal to see this, that apparently keeps some in certain sects and even cults, from acknowledging the fact that the water killed and the ark saved. this is not complicated and is simple and easy to understand
what is not easy to understand, is how people shut their minds off and blabber nonsense and continue to spout the obvious silliness that water saved Noah and his family
the only way it makes any sense whatsoever, is to realize that these same folks believe that water washes sin away and so they mistakenly tie in a couple of verses to their cultish beliefs and believe they have a magical understanding that most sensible people do not have and will never have, because it is sheer nonsense
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:4