Red, rotting algae covers Australia's 'whitest sand' in Jervis Bay

Locals reported the bizarre phenomenon at NSW's whitest sand beach. Photo / Getty Images;

The wild weather across NSW has had a dire impact on the beach with the "whitest sand in the world", with one disgusted local filming the maggot-filled algae.

The NSW beach that has long been regarded as having the whitest sand in the world has temporarily lost its title after this week's wild weather.

Hyams Beach, in the Jervis Bay region on NSW's south coast, is one of the most popular in the state thanks to its crystal clear, turquoise water and squeaky, blinding white sand.

But thanks to this week's east coast low, that saw parts of NSW suffer its worst flooding event in history and dangerous weather all week, the iconic Hyams was looking a little different.

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Local Jayde Clarke took to Facebook to show what the usually picturesque beach looked like following the storms and huge swells, that forced a massive algae bloom to be pushed onshore.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Ms Clarke described the red seaweed dump as a "monstrosity".

"My husband and I go surfing out there all the time so we wanted to see how the sets were rolling in and then we saw that monstrosity," she said.

The weird red seaweed invasion of Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay.#hyamsbeach #jervisbay pic.twitter.com/ORVuPCq91w

— Leah Dwyer 💉💉💉😷🍁🐨 (@KarenLeahDwyer2) March 8, 2022

Ms Clarke said the beach smelt badly and she spotted "thousands" of maggots wriggling in the drying seaweed.

"We were completely in shock - in the whole 25 years my husband had lived here he had never seen anything like it," she said.

The bizarre phenomenon is nothing compared to what the Yucatán Peninsula is dealing with in Mexico, the nation's most popular tourist destination.

For years now, seaweed, known as sargassum, has drifted from Brazil up to Mexico and is pushed by waves onto the region's iconic white sand beaches.

When it dries, the sargassum gives off a rotten egg smell.

The issue has cost the Mexican government tens of millions of dollars as they try to fix the problem.