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

Nearly 800 people have sought 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’ regional housing and homelessness manager 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 damage to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rainfall inundating the space.

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

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

“It has actually been actually challenging trying to get them any kind of shelter.”

She said the homeless were searching for any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW area already handling a dire scarcity of budget-friendly housing.

“We’ve been assisting out an entire family oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy stated.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather is truly horrible.”

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

“We absolutely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we require solutions,” Ms Kennedy said.

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

“I am fully aware of the significant challenges for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not permanent solutions … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment,” he said.

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

“So I want to apologise beforehand but we need to draw a really clear and understood line.”

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

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

Major flood warnings 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 debris that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW regional federal government areas who had lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified 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 mental health services for impacted areas.

“We have actually got your back, that’s my message to neighborhoods here,” he stated from Lismore on Monday.

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