The Hōlei Sea Arch, a landmark on the Big Island coast for more than five centuries, has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean, the National Park Service confirmed.
The big picture: The arch stood about 90 feet tall in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, cut from an ancient lava flow by wave erosion roughly 550 years ago. It was one of the most photographed spots on the island.
- The park service said the arch was still projecting into the water on September 23, when the park closed during Tropical Storm Nolo, and had collapsed by the night of September 27. Nobody saw it fall.
The backstory: The collapse was decades in the making. Earthquakes during the 2018 Kīlauea eruption and summit collapse damaged the surrounding cliffs. New cracks in January 2020 forced the park to close the original viewing area and open a safer one months later, and a tropical storm that year knocked a chunk off the arch’s base.
What they're saying: "This formation is beautiful, but temporary, and has a limited life span," the park service wrote in 2021. "The sea arch will eventually crumble into the sea. However, others will replace it as the cliff slowly migrates inland."
- The US Geological Survey had put it more bluntly in 2014: every day the ocean crashes against the pillar, eroding it a little more, and one day it will be gone.
Zoom in: Hawaii has taken an unusual beating this year. Nolo was the third major storm to hit the islands in months, after Hurricane Lala in August and Hurricane Lowell in early September, both of which flooded homes and roads.
Why it matters: Forecasters warn this supercharged El Niño has a high probability of reaching historic intensity, and Pacific storm activity is running above average at the peak of hurricane season. The arch is the visible receipt, and the season has months to run.
