After weeks residents beg for help from outside Some help is finally on the way for the damage caused by landslides on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council on Tuesday allocated $2.8 million for direct relief to Portuguese Bend area residents who suffered landslide damage or the loss of critical utilities — more than half of a $5 million grant from Los Angeles County. or in many cases, both,
Mayor John Cruikshank said in a statement, “These emergency grants will provide long-overdue immediate assistance to people whose lives have been impacted by land movements and utility shutoffs, helping them cover essential costs like home repairs and temporary housing. “Will help.”
The city will distribute up to $10,000 to families directly affected by the land movement and shutoff, which is estimated to be approximately 280 households in Rancho Palos Verdes. However, many residents have said that the events of the past few weeks are costing them approximately $100,000, forcing them to strengthen the foundations of homes, switch to off-grid solar power and replace natural gas lines with propane. Have to struggle to change.
“These residents have been through hell, and so far, they have borne the entire financial burden of this landslide,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “$10,000 may not be enough to cover these homeowners’ costs, but I think it’s important for them to receive this assistance.”
Funds are not given to residents of the nearby city of Rolling Hills. 50 residents also recently lost electricity and gas service Due to ground movement in some neighborhoods that are located just up the hill from the Portuguese Bend landslide.
City officials were grateful for Hahn’s support Tuesday, noting that it is nearly impossible to secure other emergency resources — such as state or federal funding — even as the landslide disaster escalates.
“Los Angeles County is the only (one) that has helped us,” Council Member David Bradley said Tuesday night. “The city can’t keep funding everything because we’ll go broke.”
However, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced emergency situation After utilities were cut off in a landslide area, officials with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services have told city officials that the area will not be eligible for state or federal disaster reimbursement because they are already experiencing landslides. . Latest landslide report from the city.
The area has long been known for land movement – waves of shifting have been increasing since nearby construction work reactivated an ancient landslide zone in 1956 – but experts have seen the movement intensify and worsen over the past few months. Said to be more comprehensive. unprecedented For many different reasons,
In the absence of outside help, city officials are trying to find ways to respond to the growing emergency despite rising expenses – ideally, before the rainy season. Rainfall and runoff are known to increase and intensify ground movement, as groundwater triggers geologic movement.
“We just need to stop that nasty thing from growing,” Cruikshank said. “this is a nightmare.”
City staff outlined approximately $26 million worth of projects that were recommended to reduce ground movement, including efforts to prevent water from entering the ground by filling cracks and improving drainage, along with Also included were projects to extract groundwater by installing additional deep wells and pumps. The city typically operates on an annual budget of less than $40 million.
After hours of deliberations, city leaders approved $14 million for landslide emergency response and mitigation, while planning to revisit the projects soon if more money is needed.
Dozens of residents testified at the City Council meeting, some expressing concern about unnecessary red tape that could limit access to the $10,000 grant, but most calling for urgent winterization efforts and more groundwater pumping in view of the upcoming rainy season. Requested support.
“I urge the council to both work on deeper wells… (and) move forward with winterization for the Altamira Valley,” said gordon lyonWho is the chairman of one of the local landslide mitigation districts. “The impact of water flooding many of the major cracks in the upper Altamira Valley will be devastating when we see millions of gallons of (rainfall) water.”
In recent weeks, the city has drilled six new, deeper dewatering wells that are removing 600 gallons of water per minute, said Ara Mihranian, Rancho Palos Verdes city manager. Initial measurements showed that pumping helped slow the land movement.
“I feel like we’re turning a page here,” Mihranian said.
Mike Phipps, a contract geologist for the city, said overall movement began to naturally decline in August for the first time in several months, probably because it had not rained in the previous five months. But in September, after new dewatering wells were activated, many areas saw a more dramatic reduction in movement, which he called “incredible news.”
“This is a direct effect of dewatering well activity,” Phipps said.
The latest report from Phipps found that in August, a landslide area of about 700 acres moved an average of about 8 inches per week, still a devastating amount but less than in previous months. The most active locations were losing about 11 inches per week, although that measurement was down from a high of about 13 inches per week this spring.
Officials are hoping the slow movement could allow utility companies to return to the area, which has indefinitely shut down work from about 300 homes. Meanwhile, both city and county leaders have called on Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas to provide more assistance for residents who suddenly lost utilities without any compensation or backup plan.
“These utility companies are monopolies,” Hahn wrote in a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission this week. “They have profited from these residents for decades as the chosen utility providers for this area. Given this, these utilities must be responsible for providing alternative sources of power to their customers on the Palos Verdes Peninsula when they choose to discontinue service.
Although many residents are grappling with the fallout from more than a month of utility shutoffs — many already paying out of pocket for off-grid solutions — Hahn urged the commission to hold utilities accountable.
Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas both contributed $50,000 to a landslide relief fund started by Palos Verdes Rotary Club. However, no funds have yet been distributed, and Rotary officials said this week that they have no plans to do so yet.
Hahn described those amounts as inadequate, as hundreds of homes are now without electricity and gas.
“More robust financial assistance programs are needed to support displaced residents and those suffering from indefinite service cuts,” Hahn wrote in the letter.
Hahn and Rancho Palos Verdes officials plan to meet with the Public Utility Commission next week.
Southern California Edison spokeswoman Gabriela Ornelas said the utility is aligned with the goal of restoring power to people affected by ground movement, “provided it can be done safely.” He did not directly respond to Hahn’s call for more assistance for residents, but described the situation as “constantly evolving.”
A spokesperson for Southern California Gas did not respond to a request for comment.
“It is still 100% their responsibility to provide electricity and gas. …If they lose money doing this, tough breaks,” said Cruikshank, who will attend the meeting. “We will continue to take this forward. … Our residents need to be whole.”
