Nearly all Illawarra beaches from Stanwell Tops down to Gerroa have been given pollution alerts on Sunday morning, with some beaches closed to swimming.
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Only Port Kembla and Fisherman's Beach were labelled with "pollution is possible, take care", by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
As of 7.20am, all other beaches were labelled red with "pollution likely" with ocean dwellers advised to consider staying on land.
Coniston beach, however, was labelled not suitable for swimming at all due to pollution and dangerous rips.
It comes as heavy rains in the past few days has brought pollution from stormwater out to the sea.
In the 24 hours to 9am Sunday Bellambi saw 70mm of rain, Albion Park Rail recorded 43mm of rain, and Kiama was drenched with 49.8mm of rainfall.
The Bureau of Meteorology is expecting more rain for Sunday across the state, with parts of northern NSW on flood watch.
Severe weather warnings are currently in place from Bundaberg in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Queensland through to Port Macquarie on the NSW Mid North Coast, while at least seven people have lost their lives from flooding in those areas.
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