In Rancho Palos Verdes, a community celebrated for its stunning coastal vistas and multi-million-dollar homes, a crisis is unfolding as the ground beneath it shifts with alarming speed. On Monday, Southern California Edison cut power to more than 230 homes after determining that the rapidly moving land posed a significant risk to utility poles—an issue that could easily spark wildfires.
This situation has been escalating for weeks. Initially, residents in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood saw their gas supply cut off due to landslides that rendered the ground too unstable for safe utility operation. Approximately 140 homes were affected, with no clear end in sight for the power shutoff. The land in this area has always been prone to movement, but the pace has accelerated dramatically over the past two years, largely due to heavy rains saturating the underlying bentonite clay. This once slow-moving threat has now turned into a rapidly evolving disaster, with the ground shifting at a pace 88 times faster than it was just a year ago. By June, land in the Portuguese Bend landslide was moving between two and seven inches per week, creating massive cracks in homes and streets and causing roofs and walls to collapse.
The threat expanded on Sunday when a power line fell and ignited a small fire, leading Southern California Edison to shut off electricity in the affected area. By Monday evening, the precautionary measure was extended to include 105 additional homes in the nearby Seaview neighborhood. The power outage, which could last anywhere from 24 hours to indefinitely, is part of a broader effort to mitigate the dangers posed by the unstable ground.
Authorities have placed both neighborhoods under evacuation warnings, advising residents to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Despite the risks—crumbling homes, no gas, limited water access, and the looming possibility of catastrophic landslides—some residents have chosen to stay.
Southern California Edison has emphasized that the power shutoffs are necessary to ensure community safety as the situation continues to evolve unpredictably. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has announced increased surveillance in the area, including drone monitoring, to encourage evacuations before conditions worsen.
