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

Nearly 800 people have actually looked for 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' regional housing and homelessness manager 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 swamping the space.

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

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

"It has actually been really tough trying to get them any type of shelter."

She stated the homeless were looking for any dry locations they might sleep throughout a northern NSW region currently dealing with a dire shortage of affordable real estate.

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

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is truly awful."

The Byron Shire regional federal government location, 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 housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we need solutions," Ms Kennedy stated.

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

"I am fully knowledgeable about the considerable challenges for real estate 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 said.

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

"So I wish to apologise beforehand however we have to draw a very clear and understood line."

More than 10,000 people were under emergency warnings in NSW on Monday morning, while 1800 individuals were separated 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 warnings were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way somewhere else.

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

Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had actually lost earnings due to the storm would be eligible for federal catastrophe relief funds for up to 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

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

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

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