The Rock digs deep for Hurricane Harvey relief effort

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has answered a call for help by donating US$25,000 ($34,477) to the Hurricane Harvey Houston relief effort.

The Kiwi-raised movie star stepped up after fellow actor Kevin Hart challenged a number of celebrities to donate big dollars to the cause, with Hart himself donating US$50,000.

The Rock, who was caught in the middle of Hurricane Andrew, posted a message on his Instagram to the people affected by Hurricane Harvey to stay strong and stick together.

"Every time our country gets hit hard by a natural disaster like Hurricane Harvey... it has a way of bringing us together as a country regardless of race and politics. We all want to step up to the plate and do everything we can to help out our brothers and sisters and families in need.

"Kevin Hart, you issued the Hurricane Harvey challenge and I appreciate you brother. I just donated my US$25,000 to the Red Cross. My companies are donating money.

"I want to send a message to the people of Houston - stay strong and you have to hold onto faith.

"I know what you're going through. I went through it, my family went through it with Hurricane Andrew which was a category 5 hurricane. it was devastating but we survived and it got stronger and so will you."

The Rock wasn't the only celebrity to answer Kevin Hart's call, with Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, DJ Khaled, and T.I. also answered Hart's plea, with Brown pledging US$100,000 and Khaled, Minaj, and T.I. each donating US$25,000.

"We ALL need to WORK on coming together [and] utilising our resources collectively to do some meaningful s- to people who need US more than ever!" T.I. wrote on Instagram.

Kim Kardashian West announced her family will donate US$500,000 to the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

#HurricaneHarvey has left catastrophic effects. Join me in donating to @salvationarmyUS at https://t.co/O79TMuNi5q or text STORM to 51555

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) August 29, 2017

It’s heartbreaking to see the devastation in Texas. Text the word HARVEY to 90999 or donate to @RedCross: https://t.co/kGfyrDWBSj

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) August 29, 2017

On Tuesday, Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez posted a video on Instagram announcing that they have each donated US$25,000 to the American Red Cross to help with the disaster relief.

View this post on Instagram

https://mobile.twitter.com/redcross/status/901546157238833152 Please help by donating what you can! Link above... God bless Houston 🙏🏼 #hurricaneharvey

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Aug 29, 2017 at 8:19am PDT

The Rock also asked the public to spare "a buck or two to help our Houston families in need".