CARBONDALE, the United States, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Throughout America's rugged West, record snow packs melted with a frenzy, released record torrents of water and caused 15 deaths so far this year.
In California, dense snow packs had state officials hoping for the end of the state's devastating six-year drought.
However, flooding in Yosemite National Park last month and across the state caused 11 drowning deaths this season, according to California Department of Water Resources spokesman Doug Carlson Monday.
In the heart of the Rocky Mountains, where the waters begin for the West's two longest rivers, the Colorado and Rio Grande, officials and river guides called for extreme caution.
"Right now the water is flowing at 8,500 cubic feet (240.7 cubic meters) per second," said Sarah Weldon at Whitewater Rafting in Glenwood Springs, who have been guiding rafting trips on the Colorado River for 40 years.
Weldon told Xinhua Tuesday that river guides had not seen volumes of water like this in recent history, and admitted her staff had cancelled a number of river runs due to dangerous conditions.
"It's pretty crazy out there - even our experienced guides are taking no chances," she said, noting that a drowning occurred on the river last week.
The Colorado River begins in northern Colorado and flows 1,450 miles (2,330 km) across seven United States and two Mexican states, through the Grand Canyon and eventually into the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora, Mexico.
In northern Utah, a four-year-old girl fell into the Provo River last month, and her mother and a man drowned as well trying to save her.
In Reno, Nevada, officials are warning people to stay away from the Truckee River due to rising temperatures and accelerated snowpack melting.
Officials feared deaths blamed on the rapidly rising waters in the West would increase.
On Monday, Carbondale Fire and Rescue saved four people including a Wisconsin man and his two children who were stranded on an island in the middle of the raging Roaring Fork River for three hours.
The Roaring Fork emanates in the mountains east of Aspen Colorado, and flows to Glenwood Springs where it joins the Colorado River.
"With the high water we thought the middle channel would be open," Blake MacDougal of New Castle, Colorado told the Glenwood Post, whose raft got tipped over after getting stuck in a log jam.
"This was a fun trip that went to hell in a hand basket - the crew was also not the most experienced," MacDougal said about the private outing, calling the near tragedy a simple case of "pilot error."
The river was flowing at nearly 5,000 cubic feet (141.6 cubic meters) per second, officials said, warning private parties to contact local fire and rescue departments before trying to navigate the river without a guide.
"If you're going rafting with an outfitter, wear wetsuits if the company tells you to," said Colorado River Outfitters Association executive director David Costlow.
Costlow noted that river waters came directly from snow melt and were "extremely cold and dangerous," with hypothermia likely from people ending up in the water.
In California, six people died since May in the rugged Tule River south of Yosemite.
Neng Thao, 18, also drowned last month swimming in the San Joaquin River near Fresno during a picnic with his family, tragically just days before he was set to graduate as the valedictorian of his high school.
