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SYDNEY - Beaches along the NSW coast will be closed for the second day in a row, though there has been a reprieve for swimmers in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Despite New Year's Day offering up perfect beach weather, swimmers will have to remain ashore in certain areas due to rough seas.
A low pressure cell which has battered south-east Queensland forced the closure of many beaches from Sydney to the Queensland border yesterday.
And according to Surf Lifesaving NSW, many of those closures will remain in place today as that low pressure system works its way south.
Beaches from Manly in Sydney to the Queensland border have been closed, as have beaches at Sutherland in Sydney's south, Surf Lifesaving NSW spokesman Brett Moore said.
Beaches in Sydney's eastern suburbs from North Bondi to Maroubra will remain open this morning.
Some Illawarra and south coast beaches will inevitably be closed, he said.
"It's pretty much Manly to Queensland, most of them are closed at the moment," he said.
"There will be ones that go on and off during the day but pretty much all the beaches will be closed at the moment.
"At the moment the sea is just too rough throughout the rest of the state to have the red and yellow flags up."
A high tide in the early afternoon would deteriorate conditions further, Mr Moore said, causing more beach closures.
Those closures could include those beaches in Sydney's east.
He said lifeguards would remain at beaches today monitoring the situation.
"Lifesavers and lifeguards will remain down at the beach all day, and if there is the ability to open beaches, beaches will be opened," he said.
"If more need to be closed, then they will be closed."
The rough conditions, including two to three metre waves on some Sydney beaches, failed to deter some surfers yesterday.
Mr Moore said that while most swimmers avoided the water, some surfers had to be rescued when they got into trouble.
"Most people did do the right thing, especially swimmers who stayed out of the water," he said.
"The rescues that did take place tended to be of surfers who challenged the waves and came off second best."
Mr Moore urged people to only swim in areas marked with red and yellow patrol flags.
"If those flags aren't up it means you're either at a unpatrolled beach or the conditions are too dangerous," he said.
The big seas would continue for the rest of the week, though the need for beach closures would recede, Mr Moore said.
- AAP
