Sand continued to blow inland from the city’s southern beaches, piling up like brown snow drifts in some places.

In Maroubra, earthmoving equipment was used to push the advancing dunes back onto the beach for the second day in a row on Tuesday.

Maroubra and Coogee were both closed for swimming, with two-metre waves and rough conditions. Some rocks were exposed at both beaches along the shoreline.

The NSW government said it was working with local councils to plan for and respond to erosion caused by major storm events.

The state’s coastal management plan is currently in a transitional phase, with 50 councils up and down the coast at different stages of preparing local plans. Many are still doing scoping studies.

The City of Newcastle is calling for 2.4 million cubic metres of extra sand to replenish erosion-prone Stockton Beach.

Sea level rise adds to the complexities around protecting the state’s coastline, contributing to everyday erosion and supercharging extreme weather events when they occur.

The coastline around Sydney is expected to experience between 20 centimetres and just over a metre of sea level rise in the next seven decades. This means that the state’s coastline can be expected to change significantly as climate change intensifies.

But it’s not all ominous news.

“We are fortunate to have been monitoring Collaroy-Narrabeen every single month for the past 45 years, and we have measured no large-scale reductions over that time,” Harley said. “Beaches are very dynamic, but we have also seen over time that they are quite resilient.”

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