Before and after: images show how Hurricane Harvey swamped Houston

Houston overpass before and after flooding Photograph: Alamy/Reuters

Hurricane Harvey has dumped record amounts of rain onto the Texas city of Houston, leaving at least eight dead and thousands stranded and prompting an unprecedented rescue effort.

As a result of the rains, swollen bayous and releases of water from reservoirs, large swaths of the fourth-largest city in the US is under water.

These images from before the flooding show a very different cityscape. Use the sliders to see the affect Harvey has had.

The overpass

With Houston downtown in the background

An overpass with Houston downtown in the background. Before image: Alamy After image: Reuters

Before image: Alamy
After image: Reuters

View over Buffalo Bayou

Taken from high-rise in Memorial Heights

View over Buffalo Bayou from Memorial Heights

Images courtesy of Aaron Cohan (Twitter / @aaroncohan)

Target

Outside a shopping centre in southeast Houston

Outside a shopping centre in southeast Houston. Before image: Google Earth After image: Twitter / @cman3636

Before image: Google Earth
After image: Twitter / @cman3636

Tidwell Road

Northeast Houston

Before image: AP After image: Google Earth

Before image: Goole Earth
After image: AP

The overpass

With graffiti

Before image: Twitter / @Isabellaaa96 After image: Twitter / @Phuture_MDandCE

Before image: Twitter / @Isabellaaa96
After image: Twitter / @Phuture_MDandCE