Vulnerable homeowners face a fight to discover food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-lived shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have looked for 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' local real estate and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting people 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 constant rainfall inundating the space.

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need but showers and laundry facilities are out of commission until the is fixed.

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

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

She stated the homeless were searching for any dry places they might sleep across a northern NSW area already dealing with an alarming scarcity of cost effective housing.

"We have actually been assisting an entire family sleeping in their car," Ms Kennedy stated.

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is truly 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 definitely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options," Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-lasting fix to established housing problems in the region.

"I am completely familiar with the substantial difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term services ... we don't have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance," he said.

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

"So I wish to apologise in advance however we have to draw a really clear and understood line."

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

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

Major flood warnings were still in location 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 among the debris that washed up after big swells battered the shoreline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had actually lost income due to the storm would be qualified for federal catastrophe relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the monetary support would be backed by psychological health services for impacted areas.

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

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