Divers — facing roaring waters and floating debris — have ended their large-scale search for a 25-year-old Indiana man who Sunday fell from an inner tube into the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County.
The man was identified as Brandon Bowie, 25, from Gary, Indiana., according to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred on Sunday at about 2 p.m., 1,000 feet west of the Picnic Rock area.
Bowie was tubing behind a friend when they hit a rough area of the Poudre River, the sheriff’s office said.
The turbulence caused the tubes of both men to flip over. Bowie’s friend was able to grab some bushes and make it to shore.
The search crews, including more than 40 people and rescue dogs, plan to spread out along the Poudre River between Picnic Rock and Shields Street in Fort Collins, but found no sign of the missing man or his tube.
“There is a lot of debris in the water. The water is not clear, and you can’t see through it,” said Kathy Messick, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. “It’s dangerous for the searchers.”
The Poudre River, like most of the state’s waterways, was gorged with frigid waters from the spring snowmelt.
The river was flowing today at nearly three times its normal pace for the date, 1,890 cubic feet per second.
The 35-year mean flow for May 30 is 672 cfs, according to the U.S. Geological Survey for Colorado.
