A crocodile on the streets in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco added to the woes of the locals as the government struggled to reach tens of thousands of people cut off by flooding that had claimed at least 80 lives.

The crocodile washed up from an overflowing lagoon in Puerto Marques, located to the southeast of Acapulco bay, after floodwaters wreaked havoc in the Pacific port, which has experienced some of the worst storm damage to hit Mexico in years.

Local residents eventually caught the crocodile using ropes.

Tens of thousands of people have been trapped in the aftermath of two tropical storms that hammered vast swathes of Mexico. More than 1 million people have been affected. There was no let-up in sight.

Acapulco's tourist trade was already grappling with a surge in drug gang violence, which earned the city the dubious distinction of Mexico's murder capital last year.

Torrential rains were spawned by two tropical storms, Ingrid and Manuel, which converged on Mexico from the Gulf and the Pacific over the weekend, triggering the flash floods.

Acapulco is struggling to cope with the downpour that has submerged vast areas of the city, choked its palm-lined streets with mud and stranded about 40,000 visitors.