Heavy seas have already proved a regular feature in 2012, battering the region’s coastlines and creating unsafe waters for beach goers.

Bulli, Towradgi and City Beach are among the beaches worst affected by sand erosion.

The Bureau of Meteorology yesterday again warned of heavy surf leading to localised damage and coastal erosion for the South Coast and Illawarra.

University of Wollongong environmental science professor Colin Woodroffe said this week’s mighty seas were the result of a big low off the east coast, a weather event often leading to particularly intense sand erosion.

Despite the dramatic appearance of the newly carved sand shelves, Prof Woodroffe said human intervention was largely unnecessary.

‘‘The erosion of our beaches tends to go through a bit of a cycle,’’ he said.

‘‘The beaches erode in a big storm and then the sand ends up in the near shore, it ends up forming bars out in the shallow water there, and then those tend to migrate back onto the beach.’’

That process could take weeks, months or even years if an erosion event was particularly serious.

‘‘I think by and large for our Wollongong beaches, we are in the position that we need to let nature take care of that recovery,’’ he said.

Wollongong City Council is this week hosting a series of community meetings to discuss a new draft Coastal Zone Management Plan, which will be on public exhibition until March 30.