Hawaii's Hōlei Sea Arch is gone, and USA TODAY shows the before and after
The short puts the lava-rock arch beside the empty coastline where it stood, and its comment section is full of people who once stood there themselves.
USA TODAYStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 386,687 views a day, 47 times a normal first day on this channel (8,207).
Iconic Hōlei Sea Arch in Hawaii collapses. See before and after videos.
The arch at the end of Chain of Craters Road in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park collapsed in late September. USA TODAY's short showing it before and after became the channel's fastest mover of the day. Seven hours in, it was close to 170,000 views; a new short here usually ends its whole first day somewhere around 8,000.
Hōlei is a sea arch on the south coast of the Big Island, carved by the waves out of the lava cliffs below Kīlauea. The clip does one simple thing: it shows the arch as visitors knew it, then the same stretch of coast without it.
The comments came in even faster than the views. In those first hours the short had already drawn several times what a usual one gets in a full day. Many viewers wish someone had filmed the moment it fell, though one is glad that part was left out. Others remember standing at the spot years ago and wondering how long the arch had left. A few study the two shots and argue they were taken from slightly different places on the cliff. And one commenter reports, deadpan, that police are working on a few leads.
It was not the only video from the day running well ahead. The Flydubai attack, as we reported here, is still drawing viewers: a new report on how a wounded pilot, a plumber and spare crew saved the flight had the day's second-strongest start. Pete Hegseth's State of the Force speech at Quantico, where he said the military is "no longer the woke department," also opened several times faster than a usual upload.
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What viewers say
Nature has nothing but time and each crashing wave brings tons of force.
@CB-dc9qjSee it on YouTubeOh my goodness! I remember pondering how long it had been there and how long it had left when I saw this years ago! I never thought it would come done in my lifetime!
@mkmason7727See it on YouTubePolice are working on a few leads.
@situational.analysisSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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- Channel
- USA TODAY
- Subscribers
- 7,580,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 14,882,840
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,298,989 (on a normal day: 2,553,552)
- Video published
- October 2, 2026
- Video views so far
- 166,920 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 386,687
The numbers
A short about a vanished landmark made one of the fastest starts this news channel has seen lately.
💡 Test your knowledge
The Azure Window, a famous sea arch that collapsed into the Mediterranean in 2017, stood on which island?
The Azure Window stood on the coast of Gozo, part of Malta, until storms brought it down in March 2017.
