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<br />-- <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />, I <br />I <br />il <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />il <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Highest <br />water yet <br />to come <br /> <br />Homes, bridges <br />already damaged <br /> <br />By Mark Obmascik <br />Denver Post Environment Writer <br />Flooding already is damaging homes <br />and bridges along Colorado's swollen riv. <br />ers, but state water managers yesterday <br />added some words of caution: The highest <br />and roughest water is yet to come. <br />Fueled by a giant high.country snow. <br />pack, many Western Slope and San Luis <br />Valley rivers were brimming yesterday <br />at levels twice as high as anything reo <br />corded at any time last year. And runoff <br />levels are days - or perhaps weeks - <br />from peaking, officials said. <br />The National Weather Service said 75 <br />percent of the state's snowpack still <br />hasn't melted, but signs of a massive <br />snowmelt were rampant yesterday. <br />"It's huge water," said Bureau of Rec- <br />lamation operations official Randy Pe. <br />terson. "You only get this kind of event <br />once every 50 or 100 years." <br />Paonia Reservoir, which is 33 percent <br />bigger than the metro area's Chatfield <br />Reservoir, went from empty to full in <br />less than a week. The single week of huge <br />inflow provided enough water to accom- <br />modate all the annual needs for 60,000 <br />