INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Tuesday was the hottest day of 2026 so far in Indianapolis. The heat is adding another challenge for homeowners and volunteers cleaning up from last month’s historic flooding.

With temperatures hitting the mid-90’s, Frank Gounder of Ravenswood said his already overwhelming task of rebuilding his home, ruined by floodwaters, has become even more difficult.

“It’s exhausting,” Gounder said. “Every task is like 10 times harder. You’re having to stop more times to drink water and everything.”

Gounder explained the flooding ruined his heating, ventilation and cooling system, and he’s unsure when he’ll have air conditioning again.

“No idea, to be honest with you,” Gounder said. “My main priority right now is having this (house) habitable, and then I guess the first thing after that would be the air conditioning. It’s just one more thing that’s gonna get fixed after other things get fixed, and that’s not gonna be a cheap thing either.”

Gounder said he’s working hard in these conditions so his child and pregnant girlfriend can move back in as soon as possible.

“It’s definitely a lot harder to sleep at night, super sticky,” he said. “It’s definitely too hot for babies and kids.”

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse carried on with their flood relief work, cleaning out damaged homes, despite the high heat.

“This heat does slow us down a bit,” Emily Clementz said, assistant program manager at Samaritan’s Purse. “Some of these houses, they don’t have air conditioning, and our workers might even be in Tyvek suits, and they’re wearing N95 masks, and so that can get hot quickly. Volunteer safety is a top priority of ours. Our team leads make sure they are taking adequate breaks, getting plenty of water and Gatorade, and even today, we’re giving them some popsicles.”

At Ravenswood’s hub for flood relief, a donation drop-off and pick-up center at the Glendale Christian Church next to Riverwood Park, organizers suspended volunteer operations for the day because of the heat, but noted the operation was still open for neighborhood flood victims.

“We did have some dangerous temps today, so we did go ahead and close down our volunteer operations for working out in the homes, and our donation hub as well, to allow our volunteers some relief from that heat,” April Vish said, volunteer commander at Ravenswood Community Group.

“Our tent outside is filled with cleaning buckets, basic supplies, water, and folks can come get that 24/7.”