Hawaii's 550-year-old Hōlei sea arch collapses into Pacific

Tropical Storm Nolo was Hawaii’s third major storm of 2026

The Hōlei sea arch, a natural stone formation in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that had stood on the Big Island’s southern coast for roughly 550 years, has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean, the National Park Service confirmed on Friday. The 90-foot arch was last documented as standing on September 23, when the park closed temporarily during Tropical Storm Nolo, and was gone by the evening of September 27, the agency said.

Park officials and the U.S. Geological Survey had described the arch’s eventual fall as long expected, and the collapse came as the Pacific hurricane season peaks. Forecasters have warned there is a high probability that this “supercharged” El Niño will reach a historic intensity, with its effects in strengthening the storms compounded by the broader overheating of the planet caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

The Hōlei sea arch was formed around 550 years ago by differential erosion of ancient lava flows by ocean waves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The arch stood at the park’s coastal sea cliff overlook, a draw for visitors to the dramatic southern coastline of the Big Island.

The NPS said the arch was still standing on Wednesday, September 23, when the park temporarily closed during Tropical Storm Nolo. By Sunday night, September 27, the formation was no longer there. The agency confirmed the collapse on Friday.

The cliffs on either side of the sea arch had shown signs of instability for years amid tropical systems and volcanic activity, the NPS said, and the arch’s collapse had long been expected.

The USGS described the arch’s eventual loss in a 2014 statement: “The arch formed in ancient lava flows by removing rock along cracks and weaker rocks. It will not be here for ever. Every day the ocean crashes against the pillar of the arch, eroding it a little more. One day, it will be gone.”

Damage from earthquakes during the 2018 Kīlauea volcanic eruption and summit collapse destabilized the surrounding cliffs. In January 2020, new cracks and instability prompted the park to close the original viewing area and open a safer one farther from the cliff edge three months later. Later that year, huge surf from Tropical Storm Darby broke off a chunk of rock from the arch’s lower portion.

The Hawaiian islands have seen an unusually high number of severe storms this year, with storm activity in the Pacific running above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season. Experts say the pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

Nolo rapidly intensified into a hurricane on September 24, prompting the national park to close, and was the third major storm to hit the Hawaiian islands in recent months. Residents were still recovering from hurricanes Lala in August and Lowell in early September, which had flooded homes and roads, toppled trees and caused power outages, when Nolo battered the islands with heavy rain and high surf.