Officials placed restrictions on sections of the Arkansas River in Pueblo County on Monday, one day after a 23-year-old man was found dead on the river at Lake Pueblo State Park.

It’s the latest closure of a Colorado waterway because of heavy flows fed by recent downpours and rapid snowmelt. Since May, at least seven people have died while tubing, rafting or kayaking this year, including three last weekend. A fourth person, a tuber, was reported missing.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife closed a 1-mile section of the Arkansas below the Pueblo Dam to tubers and nonwhitewater boats. Water at the section is flowing over 6,000 cubic feet per second, the agency reported. That’s about three times above the normal flow.

“As far as this year goes, this is the highest we’ve seen,” said Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Abbie Walls.

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office also announced it was closing another section of the Arkansas between Runyon Lake and the Pueblo County line to tubers, nonwhitewater boats and swimmers.

The river restrictions are in effect indefinitely. Those not following the closure order face a mandatory court appearance if spotted, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

“We want people to be safe, and right now the conditions are so dangerous that another tragedy like the one we saw yesterday is very likely if people continue to float that river,” Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor said in a statement.

Parker resident Steven Kelly was recovered Sunday morning after he was tubing along the river. It is believed Kelly was wearing a life jacket at the time, but neither the jacket nor the tube was recovered, Parks and Wildlife officials said in a news release.

The Bureau of Reclamation said Friday that water coming into the Pueblo Reservoir was exceeding outflows, causing the agency to increase water amounts released at the Pueblo Dam. The dam was 89.7 percent full as of Sunday, according to bureau data.

Flood warnings along the Arkansas River were in effect Monday in Fremont, Otero and Pueblo counties.

A deluge in May followed by high temperatures and fast-melting snow in June has helped create the deadly conditions. But relief could be on the way, said Larry Walrod, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

“Based on recent trends, it appears we may have passed the peak snowmelt. If indeed that’s the case, we’ll see the snowmelt run off gradually decrease over time,” he said.

“That’s a good thing.”

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