Vulnerable locals deal with a fight to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and momentary shelters shut.
Nearly 800 individuals have actually looked for sanctuary in NSW evacuation centres but their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.
Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' local real estate and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting people 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 consistent rains flooding the area.
On any provided day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need but showers and laundry facilities are out of commission up until the flood damage is fixed.
"It has been a horrendous time for the homeless community," Ms Kennedy told AAP.
"It has actually been really difficult trying to get them any kind of shelter."
She said the homeless were searching for any dry locations they could sleep across a northern NSW area already handling a dire scarcity of budget-friendly real estate.
"We have actually been assisting an entire household sleeping in their car," Ms Kennedy stated.
"Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is truly dreadful."
The Byron Shire city government location, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council area in the state, according to a 2024 government street count.
"We definitely do have a real estate issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options," Ms Kennedy said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-lasting fix to entrenched real estate problems in the area.
"I am completely familiar with the considerable obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term options ... we don't have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance," he said.
The centres would close in all locations once local emergency orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.
"So I wish to apologise beforehand but we have to draw a really clear and understood line."
More than 10,000 individuals were under emergency cautions in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 individuals were separated by floodwaters.
About 10,000 homes and services were still not linked 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 method somewhere else.
In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the debris that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the shoreline for days.
Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had lost earnings 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 monetary support would be backed by psychological health services for impacted locations.
"We've got your back, that's my message to neighborhoods here," he stated from Lismore on Monday.
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