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Vulnerable citizens deal with a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-term shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have actually looked for sanctuary in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' regional housing and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting people sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her task was made harder on Monday due to damage to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with constant rains flooding the area.

On any provided day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement however showers and laundry centers run out commission up until the flood damage is fixed.

"It has been a horrendous time for the homeless community," Ms Kennedy informed AAP.

"It has actually been really tough attempting to get them any kind of shelter."

She stated the homeless were to find any dry locations they might sleep throughout a northern NSW area already handling an alarming scarcity of cost effective real estate.

"We have actually been assisting an entire household oversleeping their automobile," Ms Kennedy said.

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is really dreadful."

The Byron Shire local federal government location, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council area in the state, according to a 2024 federal government street count.

"We absolutely do have a housing problem in the Northern Rivers and we need options," Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not work as a long-lasting repair to entrenched real estate issues in the area.

"I am totally knowledgeable about the considerable difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not long-term solutions ... we don't have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation," he stated.

The centres would close in all areas once local emergency situation orders were raised, Mr Minns added.

"So I want to apologise in advance but we have to draw a very clear and understood line."

More than 10,000 people were under emergency warnings in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 people were isolated by floodwaters.

About 10,000 homes and businesses were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in numerous locations.

Major flood cautions were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under method somewhere else.

In Pottsville, between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the debris that washed up after big swells battered the shoreline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW city government locations who had lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified for federal disaster relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by psychological health services for affected areas.

"We've got your back, that's my message to neighborhoods here," he said from Lismore on Monday.

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