Vulnerable citizens face a fight to discover food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and shut.

Nearly 800 people have looked for refuge 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' local housing and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals 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 rainfall flooding the space.

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

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

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry locations they could sleep throughout a northern NSW region already handling a dire shortage of affordable real estate.

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

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

The Byron Shire city government area, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council location in the state, according to a 2024 federal 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 set up in schools, universities, gyms and clubs might not act as a long-lasting repair to established real estate problems in the region.

"I am fully conscious of the considerable obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not irreversible services ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation," he stated.

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

"So I desire to apologise beforehand but we need to draw an extremely clear and understood line."

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

About 10,000 homes and services were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many areas.

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

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the particles that washed up after huge swells damaged the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local government areas who had actually lost income due to the storm would be eligible for federal disaster relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

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

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

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