Hōlei Sea Arch collapsed sometime between September 23 and the night of September 27, 2026, after years of documented instability. The National Park Service (NPS) says sea arches form and eventually fail through ongoing erosion, but it has not identified the exact moment or immediate trigger of this collapse. Tropical Storm Nolo may have coincided with it; the park has not confirmed that the storm caused it.
When did Hōlei Sea Arch collapse?
The roughly 90-foot (27.4-meter) arch was still standing when observed on September 23, 2026, and had collapsed by the night of September 27. The NPS announced the collapse on October 1. The exact time is unknown; the event may have occurred while the park was temporarily closed during Tropical Storm Nolo. The NPS announcement gives the dates but does not pinpoint the moment.
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The “500 years” in the headline is an approximation, not a measured age for the arch itself. The NPS says the feature was cut into an ancient lava flow from about 550 years ago. That dates the underlying flow approximately; it does not establish precisely when the arch formed. The park’s Hōlei Sea Arch page describes its formation.
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Why do sea arches collapse?
According to the NPS, lava cliffs begin to erode after they cool. Waves and wind fracture the rock; waves then enlarge openings into caves, and continued erosion can cut through a headland to create an arch. Erosion continues after the opening forms. As the rock bridge wears away, it can collapse, leaving a sea stack. This explains the natural process, but it is not a forensic account of the final forces that brought down Hōlei Sea Arch.
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What made Hōlei Sea Arch unstable?
The arch stood beside cliffs with a documented history of damage and instability. Earthquakes during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse damaged nearby cliffs. New cracks and instability led Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park to close the original viewing area in January 2020 and open a safer area farther from the cliff edge in March 2020. Later that year, surf from Tropical Storm Darby broke a piece from the lower arch, according to the NPS.
Did Tropical Storm Nolo cause the collapse?
That has not been established. The NPS says the arch may have collapsed during the temporary closure associated with Nolo, but it has not named a definitive trigger. Hawaiʻi Public Radio reported that the park had not said whether Nolo’s conditions, including high surf, contributed. The timing makes the storm a possibility, not a confirmed cause. Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s report also describes the collapse and the photographs of the site.
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What the before-and-after photos show
Images document the arch standing in 2014 and 2022, and the site without the arch on September 30, 2026. They offer a visual comparison across time, but the sources do not establish that every image was taken from the same camera position, so they should not be treated as a matched-angle sequence.
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| Image | What it shows | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Hōlei Sea Arch standing | S. Geiger / USGS |
| 2022 | Hōlei Sea Arch standing | Janice Wei / NPS; the NPS release also credits its 2022 standing-arch image to NPS Photo/Janice Wei |
| September 30, 2026 | Empty site; includes a close-up and a view from the lookout | Close-up: Janice Wei / NPS. Lookout image: Samira Farhin / Fahad Shaon |
The dates and credits are identified in the Hawaiʻi Public Radio photo report and the NPS announcement.
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Can visitors still see the site?
Access conditions after the collapse are not established here, and closures can change. Check current official Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park notices before traveling. The older NPS feature page describes the former viewing area as roughly 1,000 feet beyond the gate at the end of Chain of Craters Road; it also warns that lava fields have deep cracks, uneven and unstable ground, and razor-sharp lava.
Follow posted closures and keep away from cliff edges. The NPS warns: “Visitors are required to stay out of closed areas and away from cliff edges which are unstable and can collapse without warning.”
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