INDIANAPOLIS — These extreme temperatures are taking a toll on people without air conditioning.
Miketa McDermott stood outside her apartment building along Meridian Street on Thursday. McDermott said she couldn't bear to be inside because it's 88 degrees in her apartment.
That's because McDermott said her air conditioner hasn't worked for two years, despite repeated calls to building maintenance.
"It's unbearable. I have headaches. I try and drink plenty of cold water in the house. It's the fact that they refuse to fix anything," said McDermott.
A spokesperson for the apartment building's owner, Wallich Communities, sent the following statement:
"The management team at Brownstone Apartments has been working diligently to respond to residents' issues with air conditioning. Our HVAC vendor has been on site daily to repair and replace units. This apartment is on their list for repair."
An Indiana University professor said Indiana lawmakers need to do more to protect Hoosier tenants who lose electricity because of unpaid bills.
RELATED: The heat dome is restrengthening, bringing higher heat for a few days | Live Doppler 13 Weather Blog
That's not McDermott's situation.
More than 1,200 people die every year because of extreme heat. That's according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite that, there are no moratoriums on shutting off electricity for not paying your bill, even during a heatwave. There are protections during frigid winter temperatures so people don't go without heat.
During the last legislative session, lawmakers considered a proposal that would have offered protections from late June through late September, but the proposed bill didn't get anywhere.
IU Professor David Konisky said last year, Indiana utility companies disconnected 50,000 people during the summer for unpaid bills. He said it's time for lawmakers to pass better protections during the summer.
There are assistance programs to help people struggling to pay their utility bills.
"All that said, it's still important that when we have temperatures that reach the level that they are today, that we are not shutting people off from their electricity to make sure we're not putting them in a dangerous situation," said Konisky.
According to the Marion County Public Health Department, since April, they've written 55 emergency air conditioning orders to apartments where people did not have working air conditioning.
According to the health department, it is against health codes for a building owner not to fix the air conditioning, especially in extreme temperatures like the ones central Indiana is experiencing right now.
The department says a room must be able to be cooled to at least 72 degrees or an apartment building's owners could face an order giving them 24-72 hours to fix the problem.
A health department spokesperson said these are the kind of temperatures that can be very dangerous, especially for people with health issues.
"It's going to effect people with breathing problems, alot of times, with the humidity and with heat stroke, so we want to be able if they're out doing yard work to be able to go into air conditioned spaces, so anything like that they're dealing with we want to try and help," said Lara Morgan.
If you are without air conditioning, you can call the Marion County Public Health Department's complaint line at 317-221-2141.
A spokesperson for AES Indiana said right now there are not enforcing disconnections and are following their hot weather disconnect guidelines that are based on the heat index temperature.