State of emergency declared in Rancho Palos Verdes after landslide threats and widening power outages

REUTERS

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in a Los Angeles suburb after officials announced they’d be cutting power to the area due to the threat of ongoing landslides.

Hundreds of homes in Rancho Palos Verdes are without electricity and residents in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood remain under evacuation warnings, meaning they should be prepared to leave when required.

The area is located on four of the five sub-slides which make up the Greater Portuguese Landslide Complex. The area, home to around 40,000 residents, has experienced an increase in land movement following severe storms in the past two years, and the ground is moving about a foot a week, officials say. However authorities say there is no risk of a sudden, catastrophic landslide.

The land movement has damaged roadways and forced the city to declare two homes unsafe for occupancy.

Drone view of houses as an evacuation warning is issued and electricity is turned off after recent landslides have effected the Portuguese Bend neighborhood of Rancho Palos Verdes, California (REUTERS)

Southern California Gas Company, which supplies natural gas to the area, determined it was unsafe to continue providing natural gas to hundreds of homes in the city.

The shifting earth puts electric equipment and utility poles at risk, raising the threat of wildfires.

The first set of homes in the city’s Portuguese Bend neighborhood had their electricity shut off on July 29.

On Monday, the city announced another 105 homes in the Seaview neighborhood would have power cut off, with at least 20 residences losing electricity indefinitely due to “unstable” ground.

A roof of a house in Rolling Hills Estates is severely damaged after a landslide on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County on Monday 10 July 2023 (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Portuguese Bend’s sewage collection system is gravity fed and operated by the LA County Department of Public Works using generators so there is no imminent public health concern, according to authorities.

The city declared a state of emergency in October 2023, allowing officials to request state and federal assistance to address the landslide activity.

“There’s no playbook for an emergency like this one,” Janice Hahn, a member of the board of supervisors, the governing body of Los Angeles County, said on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Times, while calling on Newsom to visit residents in person. “They are watching their homes, they are watching their streets crumble around them,” she said.

The city has set plans for an “Emergency Hydraugers Project” that would involve constructing wells in the Portuguese Bend Landslide complex to extract water in an effort to slow down land movement. In May, the city council approved construction contracts for two hydraugers.

Rancho Palos Verdes is known for lavish beachfront properties and world renowned resorts, including Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles.