Business owners in the Lismore CBD and others in low-lying areas of North and South Lismore will be breathing a huge sigh of relief this morning as the Bureau of Meteorology said, "The Wilsons River at Lismore (AHD) is likely to remain around the moderate flood level (7.20 m) during Sunday."

The threat of the levee wall being overtopped caused high anxiety for many owners as their very existence was on the edge if flood waters entered their shops. Debt from the 2022 big flood, delayed tax bills and lower consumer spending has seen them struggle to keep the doors open in the last two years.

The immediate question for business owners is when they can get into their shops, restock and start trading to get some income flowing.

Residents will be waiting for the okay from the NSW SES.

The BOM said that the Wilsons River levels may fall below the moderate flood level (7.20 m) during Monday.

The move of Tropical Cyclone Alfred to a low-pressure system has allowed Essential Energy access to fallen powerlines. As of 10:30am, just over 16,000 homes and businesses are without power across various communities from Tweed Heads south to Grafton with this number likely to change throughout the day.

An Essential Energy spokesperson said, "Crews are working to clean up, repair and restore wherever it is safe to do so; however, customers need to be prepared to be without power for several days. The biggest challenges to getting power back on will be rising flood waters and swollen creek beds, fallen vegetation and mud slides impacting access roads.

"Additional crews from across the Essential Energy network are travelling into the area today to assist. Community hubs will be set up in the coming days to provide support to customers, including access to charging for mobile devices and access to the internet.

"A big focus for today is to work on the restoration of power at Mount Nardi is home to several transmission towers for FM radio, digital television, fixed wireless broadband and some mobile phone services.

"Severe weather is continuing to hinder restoration efforts with plans to survey the network via helicopter unable to proceed for safety reasons until conditions improve.

Essential Energy has also received a number of reports of the community approaching fallen powerlines. They want to remind customers in Northern NSW to stay at least 8 metres away from fallen powerlines and to assume that these assets are live and very dangerous as the impacts of ex-cyclone Alfred continue to cause damage to the electricity network.

If you see fallen powerlines or any trees on the network, please call 13 20 80 to report the location.

For up-to-date information on impacted locations and estimated restoration times (when known), visit our website outages page.

Power outages are largely responsible for 12,000 outages across the nbn fixed line and fixed wireless networks across Northern NSW.

Equipment connected to the nbn network will not work during a power outage.

For a full list of affected areas and suburbs click  IMPORTANT UPDATES - Cyclone Alfred.