Dozens of Los Angeles County homes perched on bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean have been without power due to worsening landslides.
The community of Rancho Palos Verdes, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, has long grappled with unstable land issues, but authorities say the problem has grown worse in recent months.
Now, utility companies are stepping in, worried about fires and other damage caused by rapid land transfers, while some residents insist on staying in their multimillion-dollar homes.
Southern California Edison decided Sunday to cut power to 140 homes near Portugal Bend, and further outages are also possible.
“The rate of movement has accelerated dramatically over the past 12 months, with some areas moving as much as 10 inches (25 inches) per week,” City Councilman David Bradley said, according to CNN. centimeters).
“You can almost see the ground moving.”
Another 105 customers in the city of 42,000 were notified that they would be without power on Monday.
Last week, a downed power line sparked a small wildfire in Bend, Portugal.
“Land movement in the Portuguese Bend community has created such a dangerous situation that we have made the very difficult decision to shut down power indefinitely to prevent equipment from starting wildfires,” said utility spokesman Larry Chung.
Gas and water have been cut off in upscale neighborhoods.
The 680-acre (276-hectare) landslide has been happening slowly for years. But experts say the pace has accelerated due to heavy rainfall in California over the past two years.
“The acceleration that’s happening right now is beyond what any of us could have foreseen, and it’s going to require more of a response from the state, from the federal government,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said at a news conference Sunday.
Senior county officials added that $5m (£3.8m) had been allocated for disaster relief but more was needed. She called on California Governor Gavin Newsom to personally inspect the area and declare a state of emergency.
Authorities are encouraging residents to leave but are not currently mandating evacuations.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said deputies would deploy drones to monitor the area.
Resident Jim Denver told ABC News he refused to leave and said Southern California Edison “left us in the middle of the ocean and told us to swim home.”
“They can give all the warnings they want. We’re not leaving,” another resident, Tom Keefer, told the New York Times.
The slow-moving landslide was part of an ancient series of landslides that were rekindled by the 1956 expansion of the county’s Crenshaw Boulevard.
It is one of the largest continuously active landslides in the United States and has moved homes hundreds of feet over the years. The city also spends about $1 million a year repairing one major road due to continued shifting and cracking.
