Vulnerable homeowners deal with a fight to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-term shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have sought haven in NSW evacuation centres however 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 supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting people sleeping rough in flooded zones.

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

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry centers run out commission until the flood damage is repaired.

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

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

She stated the homeless were trying to find any dry places they might sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently handling a dire scarcity of economical housing.

"We've been assisting out a whole family sleeping in their automobile," Ms Kennedy said.

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is really awful."

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

"We definitely do have a real estate issue in the Northern Rivers and we need services," Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs could not function as a long-term fix to established real estate issues in the region.

"I am fully familiar with the considerable difficulties for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not irreversible solutions ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation," he stated.

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

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

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

About 10,000 homes and companies were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many 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 among the debris that washed up after substantial swells battered the shoreline for days.

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the financial support would be backed by psychological health services for affected locations.

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

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