Homeowner's Giant 50-Year-Old Saguaro Collapses Due To Arizona Heat Wave

The summer has been brutal for Arizona this year, with some having experienced temperatures reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning and schools cancelling classes as a result of the unbearably hot weather.

It's not only residents experiencing these consequences as witnessed by Phoenix homeowner Jessica Lin.

The valley local, like many neighbors, took pride in the saguaro resting in the front yard of her house.

The sizable cactus, which is native to only a few areas in the country including Arizona's Sonoran Desert, can grow to an impressive height of 40 feet tall.

Lin's saguaro was only five feet tall when it was planted in the 1970s, but eventually sprouted to 2,000 pounds. It was the largest plant of its kind in the entire neighborhood.

Unfortunately, little shade, lack of rain and shockingly high temperatures resulted in the cactus splitting from its base and breaking apart completely.

"Everybody who comes into town, takes pictures in front of it because it was a marvel, it was so giant," Lin stated while mourning the loss of her home's magnificent signature.

According to landscape professional Robert Socha, such incidents involving saguaro cacti are becoming the norm because of the rising heat levels, "It's increasing the ambient temperature, the nighttime temperature beyond what they normally are for the environment were in, so the concrete absorbs the heat from the sun and then radiates it for a period of time."