Vulnerable residents deal with a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and temporary shelters shut.
Nearly 800 individuals have actually sought haven in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will cease to exist after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.
Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional housing and homelessness supervisor 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 damage to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rainfall inundating the area.
On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry facilities are out of commission till the flood damage is fixed.
“It has been a horrendous time for the homeless community,” Ms Kennedy informed AAP.
“It has been truly tough attempting to get them any type of shelter.”
She said the homeless were searching for any dry places they could sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently dealing with an alarming scarcity of budget-friendly housing.
“We have actually been assisting out an entire household oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy said.
“Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is truly horrible.”
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 federal government street count.
“We absolutely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options,” Ms Kennedy said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-lasting repair to entrenched housing issues in the area.
“I am fully conscious of the considerable difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not permanent services … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.
The centres would close in all locations once local emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.
“So I wish to apologise beforehand but we need to draw a very clear and understood line.”
More than 10,000 individuals were under emergency situation cautions in NSW on Monday morning, while 1800 people were separated by .
About 10,000 homes and services were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in numerous locations.
Major flood cautions were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way in other places.
In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the particles that washed up after huge swells battered the coastline for days.
Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had actually lost income due to the storm would be eligible for federal disaster relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the financial backing would be backed by psychological health services for affected areas.
“We’ve got your back, that’s my message to communities here,” he stated from Lismore on Monday.
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