Rancho Palos Verdes Forges Ahead Partnering with County and State on Recovery Efforts

The City of Rancho Palos Verdes City Council Feb. 20 requested the Governor consider proclaiming a State of Emergency to suspend and waive state permitting requirements to allow the city to immediately begin work on landslide stabilization measures. The city council’s request included requesting the president declare a federal disaster to deploy FEMA resources.

The recent storms in Los Angeles County have brought widespread impacts countywide, in particular to the land movement occurring in Rancho Palos Verdes. The city, county and state have been maintaining a close watch with safety being the top priority. Ensuring coordination and collaboration at all levels of government is vital to the response and recovery efforts after any disaster and all community members across L.A. County should have the confidence that all levels of government and non-governmental partners are working together collectively.

Identifying the necessary response and recovery activities is a critical step in setting a solid roadmap for how community members, jurisdictions and county get back to normal after any disaster. On Feb. 4, prior to the start of the February rainstorms, the Governor proclaimed a State of Emergency, and the county proclaimed a local emergency. These proclamations are applicable to portions of the county that may have experienced loss or damage from mudslides, flooding, land movement or debris flows.

For weeks, the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management has been working with partners from all levels of government to collect critical data to support the need for state and federal assistance to local jurisdictions. These efforts will continue as we work through the established processes that apply to all disasters.

While both the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and county work through response and recovery processes, the California Office of Emergency Services has determined that the city is able to utilize the current Feb. 4 State of Emergency to implement immediate emergency measures to help reduce further damage to the landslide area, including:

The installation of additional drainage systems and wells to extract groundwater and

Other measures that would prevent surface water from adding to the saturation.

For up-to-date information on the recent storms and land movement, please visit the city’s website at RPVca.gov/Storm and RPVca.gov/LandMovement.