Before and after images show the true devastation of Hurricane Harvey

A housing crisis is beginning to grip South East Texas areas hit by the floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey.

More than 180,000 houses in the Houston area have been badly damaged, and it has been reported that only a small proportion of residents own flood insurance.

A spokesperson for the city's housing department said city officials "are aware these problems exist".

Images of the destruction have been popular on news websites and social media, as comparisons before and after draw a large amount of attention.

Vox attempted to visualise the volume of water dumped on the city by projecting the 27 trillion gallons as a single raindrop.

Houston Chronicle photojournalist Mark Mulligan tweeted some comparison photos of Houston neighbourhoods following the storm, with the caption:

It's only been a week. Went back to some of the sites in Meyerland I shot last Sunday.

Mulligan's tweet has been retweeted over 10,000 times.

You can read more about the storm cleanup on the Houston Chronicle's website.

More: A Houston takeaway is delivering pizzas to flood victims on kayaks