Satellite images released Tuesday demonstrated just how powerful the floods and mudslides unleashed by Typhoon Morakot were as they devastated much of southern Taiwan. One of the most stunning images obtained by the Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research (CSRSR) under National Central University was the explosive expansion of the Taimali River in Taitung. The images showed that the upper stream of the river, which originally was barely more than 10 meters wide, spread to more than 800 meters as large amounts of mud were washed down the mountain by heavy rainfall. Chang Chung-pai, an associate professor at the center, said the mudslides observed in this typhoon have been the largest on record both in terms of length and scale. 'Mudflows that we observed in the past usually filled about 10 kilometers of the river. But the entire Taimali River was filled with mudflows in this typhoon, ' he said of the 31-kilometer long river. According to Chang, both the toppled Chinshuai Hotel in Taitung's Jhihben hotspring area and the collapsed Shuangyuan Bridge in Kaohsiung County were located on the outer edge of a river bend, where the water's momentum and erosive potential are the strongest. Comparing the bridge's satellite images taken Jan. 14 and Aug. 11, the CSRSR found that the bridge broke up over the west side of Gaoping River, the point where the water was deeper and flow rate was faster. Torrential rainfall from Typhoon Morakot, which battered Taiwan over the weekend, triggered the worst flooding in 50 years, leaving at least 62 dead, 35 injured and 57 unaccounted for, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center. Also, many became homeless when their homes were buried by mudslides. 