As Lismore's weather slowly improves and hopefully sees the sun peak through another rainy day soon, attention will turn further to the recovery effort for Lismore and other Northern Rivers LGAs.

Now that residents and businesses can move back into the CBD, it's time to think about our local businesses. They have not only missed over a week's worth of trade that adds up to tens of thousands of dollars for each business, but they have experienced the anxiety of not knowing whether business will be flooded once again.

When asked how it felt that the levee wall would not be overtopped yesterday, Mayor Steve Krieg said, "It's a massive relief. But again, the work begins now. A lot of our businesses were in a precarious financial position before this set in, and so people will be keen to hear the evacuation orders being lifted. It is a massive relief.

"I was talking to one of the business owners who said, 'packing up is quick, setting up again is a three day process'. So, they're hoping to be back up and trading on Wednesday. That's over a week without an income, and with all the staff that are employed that need to be paid, that's a, still a massive stress and a strain on our small business community, there's no doubt about that.

"I will just mention the waste and the cleanup is very important with the help of the state government, the EPA. One of our big abattoirs has got 20 tons of carcasses to be disposed of because of power loss. All of those sorts of compounding issues with the green waste, but we'll be working hard to make sure that our Lismore community can get access to our waste facility. There's a massive cleanup ahead of us, just due to our outages."

Yesterday afternoon, the streets of the CBD were quiet; however, there were a few business owners already at work putting back shelving and beginning to restock the shelves so they can start trading again.

Matt Healy from Daleys Hardware and Monogramming was one of those in his Keen Street shop. Matt was taking the opportunity to update his layout before reopening on Tuesday morning at 8:30.

(Matt Healy from Daleys Homewares and Hardware on Keen Street)

Matt Bone from Planet Music was also in his shop next door to Daleys, and was just about to move his guitars back in his shop. Planet Music will open at 9am today.

Kyle Wood from Southside Chempro on Casino Street, South Lismore is another business reopening tomorrow. If you need your srcipts filled or are after medication pop into Kyle and the team.

The Tropical Cyclone Recovery Support website is now live, and can easily be accessed through the Lismore App Flood Recover button (Cyclone Alfred) or directly through https://www.nsw.gov.au/emergency/tropical-cyclone-alfred-recovery-updates.

Individuals can get help through grants for low-income earners, as well as help clean and remove damage to their properties.

Not-For-Profit businesses can get access to concessional interest loans and grants, but a regular business can only receive concessional interest rate loans.

Premier Chris Minns was asked if the state government had looked at further business help, such as grants that can be given to Lismore businesses that have struggled with debt from the 2022 flood, delayed tax debt and recently, lower consumer spending due to higher cost of living.

"I'll answer it because it's a very good question. You're absolutely right. Janelle and Steve will hug you first and then put you in a head lock and say, we need help. We're actively looking at it. We're talking with the Commonwealth Government. We've also been speaking with the Queensland Government. We want to make sure that we act.

"We think we'll have more to say as early as tomorrow in relation to the next stages of community grant support. We need to make sure that it works. And I can't announce it today, but it's not far off."

Local businesses will be anxiously waiting to see what help will be coming there way later today.