Vulnerable residents face a fight to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and temporary shelters shut.

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

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' local housing and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her job was made harder on Monday due to damage to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rainfall swamping the space.

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement however showers and laundry centers are out of commission till the flood damage is repaired.

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

"It has been truly challenging trying to get them any type of shelter."

She stated the homeless were looking for any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming lack of budget-friendly housing.

"We have actually been assisting out a whole household sleeping in their cars and truck," Ms Kennedy stated.

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is actually horrible."

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

"We absolutely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we require services," Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not function as a long-term repair to established real estate problems in the area.

"I am fully familiar with the considerable obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term solutions ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance," he stated.

The centres would close in all locations once local emergency orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.

"So I desire to apologise ahead of time however we have to draw a very clear and understood line."

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

About 10,000 homes and organizations were still not linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many locations.

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

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the particles that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had actually lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified for federal catastrophe relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monetary support would be backed by psychological health services for impacted areas.

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

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