Watch: 5 million Egyptian pounds rescued after van sinks in Alexandria floods

Workers rescued about 5 million Egyptian pounds ($282,455) from a van trapped in a flood in the northern city of Alexandria on Tuesday, after torrential rain filled the streets with water.

Videos posted on social media and widely shared showed cash-filled boxes suspended on ropes being pulled from the submerged vehicle.

Officials from the financial company to which the money belongs were quick to arrive at the scene. Local media reported that all of the cash was recovered and taken safely to one of the company’s offices nearby.

Last week, as the winter season began in Egypt, several of the country’s provinces were hit by rare storms that brought torrential rain, flooding and in some areas, hail.

Alexandria was one of the cities hit hardest by the wave of bad weather.

Video and photos posted to social media from Saturday to Monday showed some of its widest and most frequented streets covered by water as drivers tried to inch their cars out of the congestion.

The city’s Governor, Maj Gen Mohamed Sherif, on Monday urged locals not to panic.

Maj Gen Sherif said the flooding, which typically takes place annually in Alexandria with the start of the rainy season, was much less serious than last year.

He voiced confidence in the city’s infrastructure, assuring residents that flooded areas would be cleared in a matter of hours.

A Youm7 video report from the city on Tuesday showed many of the flooded streets had been cleared and traffic in previously congested areas had returned to normal.

But many of Alexandria's residents took to social media to voice their discontent with the city’s outdated sewerage system, which is overwhelmed during rainy season each year, causing mass flooding that led to electrocutions and injuries.

Egyptian TV host Ahmed Moussa delivered an impassioned speech on Monday’s episode of his talk show Ala Mas’ouleety, appealing to the government to take more stringent steps towards updating the city’s infrastructure and drainage systems.

Two sewer workers were killed amid efforts to clear the rainwater in Alexandria and authorities announced a citywide holiday for schools and companies to keep people at home while they dealt with problems from the flood.

Last week, a wave of torrential rain hit other parts of the country, with the Upper Egyptian province of Aswan being overrun with scorpions that were washed down from their mountain habitat by the rain.

Hundreds of the city’s locals were stung and three people were electrocuted.

Hundreds of homes in the city on the banks of the Nile were destroyed or damaged.

With bad weather having passed over most parts of the city, Alexandria typically goes through rains throughout the winter season, so many of its residents expect more flooding and congestion as rain intensifies in late December and January.