The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council has approved $2.8 million in landslide relief funds for about 280 affected, if not destroyed, homeowners. due to recent land movements and utility shutoffs.
The affected area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is part of a decades-long, slowly progressing landslide. Last year’s spring rains greatly accelerated land movement, cracking and tearing apart homes and streets, forcing some to evacuate. City leaders called the situation “unprecedented.”
Both Edison and SoCalGas in Southern California chosen to terminate the service to clusters of homes at different stages as determined by worsening land movement.
Hundreds of homes in Rancho Palos Verdes have had their utilities shut off since late July. Some homeowners in the affected area have no visible signs of destruction but have had to scramble after their utilities were shut off.
“We apologize for this unexpected service disruption. This dynamic situation requires us to take immediate action to protect public safety,” SoCalGas said in a July statement.
In early September, Governor Gavin Newsom said declared a state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Since then, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office has provided $5 million in landslide mitigation funding. Just over half of that will go to homeowners – up to $10,000 for each affected property owner.
The money could be used to cover a variety of crucial expenses, such as purchasing supplies, home repairs, temporary housing and other related costs.
The remaining $2.2 million from the supervisor’s office will be used to strengthen the city’s ongoing landslide response and stabilization efforts, according to the city.
Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank said the emergency grants will provide long-awaited immediate relief to those whose lives have been upended by land relocations and utility shutoffs.
“Our community has faced unfathomable challenges in the face of this landslide disaster, and it is critical that we quickly deploy this funding to support our residents who have been most impacted,” Cruikshank said.
Individual grants will be made available to homeowners in the Portuguese Bend Community Association, Seaview and Portuguese Bend Beach Club neighborhoods.
Also at Tuesday’s council meeting, geologists offered a small glimmer of hope, saying, while the landslide is still moving: it’s delayed from an average of 13 inches per week to 8 inches.
