One of the world’s most active volcanoes sprang into life again Monday, spewing columns of lava 80 meters above Hawaii, U.S. vulcanologists said.
Images showed enormous fissures in the caldera of Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, spraying jets of molten rock into the air.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the eruption began just after 2 a.m. local time (1200 GMT) in the southwestern section of the caldera.
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“At 4:30 a.m., lava fountains were observed with heights up to 80 meters [262 feet],” the agency said.
“Molten material, including lava bombs, is being ejected from the winds on the caldera floor up onto the west caldera rim.”
The eruption was also sending matter much higher into the atmosphere.
“The plume of volcanic gas and fine volcanic particles is reaching elevations of 6,000-8,000 feet above sea level … and winds are transporting it to the southwest,” the observatory said.
The observatory said sulfur dioxide emanating from the fissure would react with other gases in the atmosphere.
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So-called vog — volcanic smog — can affect people and animals, as well as crops.
Kilauea has been very active since 1983 and erupts relatively regularly, including most recently in September.
It is one of six active volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands, which include Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world, though Kilauea is far more active.
By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and AUDREY McAVOY (Associated Press)
March 21, 2026 12:15 a.m.
Muddy floodwaters from severe rains inundated streets, pushed homes off their foundations, swallowed vehicles and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents in towns north of Honolulu on Friday as officials warned of the possible failure of a 120-year-old dam.
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Streets are flooded from severe rains, Friday, March 20, 2026, in Haleiwa, Hawaii.
Mengshin Lin / AP
Emergency sirens blared along Oahu’s North Shore, where rising waters damaged homes in a community world-renowned for its surfing. Honolulu officials told residents Friday morning to leave the area downstream of Wahiawa dam, saying it was “at risk of imminent failure.”
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but some homes had been swept away, said Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for Honolulu. Crew searched by air and by water for people who had been stranded — efforts that were hampered by people flying personal drones to get images of the flooding, he said.
During an afternoon news conference, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said dozens — if not hundreds — of homes had been damaged. Officials had not been able to fully assess the destruction due to the floodwaters. Some 5,500 people were under evacuation orders.
“There’s no question that the damage done thus far has been catastrophic,” he said.
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Blangiardi said officials felt confident in the stability of the dams on the island, but that it was hard to predict how much rain would come and what it might do.
The National Guard was airlifting about 70 children and adults who had been attending a spring break youth camp at a retreat on Oahu’s west coast called Our Lady of Kea’au, according to city and camp officials. The camp is on high ground but authorities didn’t want to leave them there, the mayor said.
Kimberly R.Y. Vierra, a spokesperson for St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai‘i, which runs the camp, said floodwaters had cut off the main access road.
On Maui, officials issued an evacuation advisory for some Lahaina neighborhoods after nearby retention basins neared capacity. The county said crews were redirecting and pumping water to keep levels safe. Parts of those neighborhoods were burned by the massive wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina in 2023.
Officials have been watching dam levels since a storm last week dumped heavy rain across the state, which led to catastrophic flooding that washed away roads and homes. After the worst of it, a similar but weaker storm was forecast to bring more rain through this weekend.
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“It’s going to be a very touch-and-go day,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said in a social media post.
Most of the state was under a flood watch, with northern Oahu under a flash flood warning, according to the National Weather Service, which reported “widespread life-threatening flash flooding,” particularly in Haleiwa and Waialua.
One shelter at Waialua High and Intermediate School was evacuated because of flooding, Scheuring said. There were about 185 people and 50 pets there who needed to be bussed to another evacuation center, but by midday 54 people still remained in the shelter.
Parts of Oahu received 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) of rain overnight, further saturating the ground after the storm last weekend. Kaala, the island’s highest peak, got nearly 16 inches (40 cm) in the past day, on top of 26.6 inches (67.6 cm) between March 10 and 16, the National Weather Service said.
Winter storm systems known as “Kona lows,” which feature southerly or southwesterly winds that bring in moisture-laden air, were responsible for the deluges. The intensity and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii of have increased amid human-caused global warming, experts say.
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As she prepared to evacuate to a friend’s home on higher ground, Waialua resident Kathleen Pahinui told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the aging Wahiawa dam is a concern every time it rains.
“Just pray for us,” she said. “We understand there’s more rain coming.”
The state has said the dam has “high hazard potential,” and that a failure “will result in probable loss of human life.”
The earthen dam was built in 1906 to increase sugar production for the Waialua Agricultural Company, which eventually became a subsidiary of Dole Food Company. It was reconstructed following a collapse in 1921.
In the last few years, Dole agreed to transfer ownership of the dam to the state, which wants to make more than $20 million in improvements, but the transfer isn’t complete. The state has been warning Dole since 2009 that the upgrades were needed, the nonprofit news organization Honolulu Civil Beat reported Friday.
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“The dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most of them built as part of irrigation systems for the sugar cane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Hawaii lawmakers are considering lowering the state’s legal blood alcohol limit for drivers — a shift supporters say could save lives, but critics argue would do little to stop impaired drivers from driving.
Senate Bill 2463, which recently crossed over to the House, would redefine “under the influence” in state law by lowering the threshold of blood alcohol concentration for drivers from 0.08 to 0.05. If approved, Hawaii would become just the second state, after Utah, to adopt a stricter limit than the national standard. A similar Senate bill also crossed over into the House but failed to become law in 2024.
While state transportation officials and traffic safety advocates say the proposal could reduce alcohol-related crashes, reactions among the public are mixed.
At Murphy’s Bar and Grill in downtown Honolulu on Tuesday, where customers packed in for a St. Patrick’s Day lunch and the sound of clinking glasses filled the room, patrons expressed skepticism that lowering the legal blood alcohol limit would achieve its stated goal.
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The consensus among Murphy’s customers who spoke to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser was that lowering the legal threshold would make little difference in reducing impaired driving crashes. Several believe crashes typically involve highly impaired drivers, not those who consumed one drink or two.
Kari Carolan, who stood with a beer at the bar among other Murphy’s St. Patrick’s Day customers, said, “The people who are going to be driving over the 0.08 are going to be doing it regardless.”
Carolan, a 50-year-old program manager, believes lowering the limit would likely have little effect on those who already drive impaired.
“People are going to do what people are going to do, you know?” she said.
Carolan also believes that lowering the threshold will not help reduce the number of drunken driving fatalities.
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Other patrons, like houshawna Laanrui-Wilcox, a Chinatown resident, agreed.
“Once you consume, you should stay at home,” she said.
Jamelia Jones — a 32-year-old overnight grocery stocker from Kaneohe — doesn’t drink but said responsibility matters more than the legal limit.
“I think the current law is fine,” she said.
Jones believes individuals should understand their own limits rather than rely on stricter laws.
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“One drink could affect someone a lot differently than someone else,” Jones said, “so I think it’s just (that) people need to be responsible.”
Colby Sims, a 39-year-old merchant mariner from Kapolei, who was drinking beers with his friends at Murphy’s, said he usually takes Ubers to prevent drinking and driving.
“I feel like you should be able to drink a little bit and drive,” Sims said.
Rather than lower the threshold, Sims said the state should “be more focused on not arresting sober drivers to make their quota … because either way the people will still get arrested with the law change.”
Tanner Young — a 23 year old from Georgia now stationed on Oahu with the Coast Guard — also works as a bouncer for bars on the weekends.
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At his bar job, Young said he regularly sees drunk people but said he rarely sees them get into their vehicles to drive after leaving the bar.
“I don’t know if 0.05 is going to change anything,” Young said.
Stricter limits could raise awareness, he said, but people will continue to make their own decisions.
“At the end of the day, if you drank, just get an Uber,” Young said.
Young was not opposed to the idea of lowering the threshold, but said he does not believe it will help.
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“I think even if there was a law that said nobody could drink, people would still drink,” Young said.
Don Murphy, who owns Murphy’s Bar and Grill, said the proposal may hurt his business.
“It’s not going to help business, that’s for sure,” Murphy said.
While Murphy supports preventing impaired driving, he questions whether lowering the limit will make a difference.
“I just don’t think that that’s going to be that big of a deterrent,” Murphy said.
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The state Department of Transportation was among the supporters who submitted written testimony in support of SB 2643, saying the change could improve road safety and reduce alcohol-related crashes.
“Lowering the per se limit to 0.05 is supported by compelling evidence,” the department wrote.
DOT cited research that estimated an 11.1% decline in fatal alcohol-related crashed when BAC limits are reduced to 0.05 or lower.
The department also wrote that impaired driving accounts for about one-third of traffic deaths in Hawaii, averaging 34 fatalities annually from 2020 and 2024.
“It aims to separate the acts of drinking and driving to enhance road safety for all users,” DOT wrote.
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Opponents, including the Office of the Public Defender, argue the measure is unnecessary and could strain the legal system.
“There is nothing to prevent the police to arrest a person … whose BAC level is under 0.08%,” the office wrote in testimony.
The Public Defender also warned that the bill could criminalize responsible drinkers and increase workloads for police and courts.
“This group of law-abiding drivers will constitute a new class of criminals under this proposed law,” the office wrote.
Murphy said the focus should be on public awareness, not just legal limits.
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“They’ve got to do a better job of finding different ways to promote not drinking and driving,” he said.
