A landslide in the Southern California city of Rancho Palos Verdes has been causing significant problems in the picturesque oceanfront community for over seven decades, according to city records.

On Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the city after the local utility provider disconnected electricity and gas to 245 homes due to damaged pipes and power lines creating dangerous conditions.

The governor declared in an official statement that the city is situated on four out of five sub-landslides that make up the Greater Portuguese Landslide Complex. He stated that land movement in parts of the complex has "noticeably accelerated after severe storms in 2023 and 2024."

However, the problems stemming from the shifting ground are not new for the city, which has spent significant sums of money on numerous engineering studies and solutions since the 1950s to stabilize the land and prevent houses from collapsing, according to city records.

“Stopping the largest landslide has been a top priority for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. City officials have allocated over $4 million to the stabilization of this natural disaster," reads a city report reviewed by
from the 1980s.

In 1990, a city report found the landslide complex was moving less than one foot per year. A city geologist survey in June of 2024 determined that certain areas of the landslide complex have been shifting 9 to 12 inches per week.

The latest report issued by the city this week attributed the recent increase in the movement of the land to heavy rainfall in 2022 and 2023.

"The city report indicates that the current rainfall total stands at 23.19 inches, exceeding the average seasonal rainfall over the past 67 years by approximately 170%."

Meanwhile, the expanding landslide zone has grown to about 680 acres, leading to evacuation advisories.

"The city has been dealing with this emergency for nearly two years, and the rapidly increasing expenses of responding to it are straining our budget," Rancho Palos Verdes City Manager Ara Mihranian stated this week. “For several months, we have been requesting public aid from all levels of government."

Mihranian stated that Newsom's state of emergency declaration will provide much-needed financial support for the city to respond to recent power outages "that are disrupting our residents' lives."

But Mihranian noted that the declaration "will not provide direct financial aid to affected residents."

"The City continues to strongly urge Gov. Newsom and the California Office of Emergency Services [Cal OES] to request President Joe Biden to declare a federal disaster in the City, which would trigger the deployment of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resources and potentially individual assistance," Mihranian said.

The first city report on the landslide dates back to April 25, 1957, when the ground movement affected an area exceeding 200 acres.

"The most rapidly moving portion of the slide has traveled approximately 22 feet in the seven months between Sept. 17, 1956, and the date of this report," reads the 1957 report.

Over the decades, the city has taken extreme measures to slow down the landslide. One of the earliest actions taken was the insertion of a series of 20-foot-long, 4-foot diameter reinforced concrete pins near the bottom of the landslide area in an attempt to curb the movement of the land. The city has also installed dewatering wells to remove groundwater, according to reports.

However, a city report from the 1980s indicated that the earth was shifting at a rate exceeding an inch daily and that "140 homes had been demolished or relocated" and "10 million tons of mud and rock had accumulated in the ocean along several miles of coastline."

In 1987, the city was forced to reroute Palos Verdes Drive South, a major thoroughfare, because of the damage caused by the landslide, according to a report.

In the 1980s, homeowners also implemented drastic measures to preserve their residences. Historic photographs included in city reports showcase homes lifted and placed on adjustable steel beams.

"To maintain a livable environment, these residents must regularly perform maintenance on the foundations of their homes," a report from the 1980s stated. "It is essential to level the foundation because the earth has been moving more than one inch daily. Foundations must be built specifically to ensure the structural stability of the house is maintained."

Currently, homeowners like 81-year-old Sallie Reeves are taking similar steps to safeguard their houses.

Reeves gave
a tour of her home of four decades, pointing out cracks in her walls, collapsed ceilings and a widening fissure running the length of her master bedroom, rendering it uninhabitable.

Reeves explained that she is collaborating with a contractor to develop plans for elevating her house and constructing a steel foundation supported by cribbing. She anticipates that these repairs will be entirely financed by her.

"This has been a hard pill to swallow," Reeves said.