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

Nearly 800 people have sought 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' regional real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her job was made harder on Monday due to harm to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with consistent 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 fixed.

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

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry places they could sleep throughout a northern NSW area already handling a dire shortage of cost effective real estate.

"We have actually been assisting a whole family oversleeping their car," Ms Kennedy stated.

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

The Byron Shire city 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 solutions," Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs could not work as a long-term repair to established housing problems in the area.

"I am completely familiar with the considerable obstacles for real estate in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not irreversible options ... we don't 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 included.

"So I desire 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 separated by floodwaters.

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

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 particles that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the coastline for days.

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

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

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

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