RPV City Council Allocates Emergency Relief Funds for Residents Affected by Land Movement and Utility Shutoffs

On Oct. 1, the Rancho Palos Verdes city council approved an emergency financial assistance program that allocates $5 million in landslide relief funding from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn to deliver immediate aid to city residents impacted by land movement and utility shutoffs.

The council’s vote authorized the city to provide up to $10,000 to each affected property owner, with an estimated total of $2.8 million allocated for up to 280 eligible homeowners. The funds may be used to cover critical expenses such as purchasing supplies, home repairs, temporary housing and other related costs due to land movement or utility interruptions. The remaining $2.2 million will be deployed to bolster the city’s ongoing landslide response and stabilization efforts.

Individual grants will be made available to homeowners in the Portuguese Bend community association, Seaview and Portuguese Bend Beach Club neighborhoods. To date, an estimated 280 households in these areas have indefinitely lost electricity and/or natural gas service or suffered damage due to the landslide. To ensure program accountability, recipients of the grant must provide documentation for eligible expenses. The city’s finance department will oversee the program, and once applications are approved, residents can expect to receive reimbursement within a week. Information on how to apply will be shared with property owners in the coming days via their homeowners’ associations.

The city continues to advocate for more local, state and federal assistance to mitigate the skyrocketing costs of the landslide response and the devastating impacts felt by individual residents and homeowners. The council voted unanimously on Oct. 1 to extend through Nov. 30 its two local emergency declarations related to the landslide and utility shutoffs, and the city will continue to pursue all potential avenues for financial support.

The city council also received an update from staff on city efforts to stabilize the landslide. In recent weeks, the city has drilled six new deep dewatering wells that are now collectively pumping out 7.2 million gallons of water — the equivalent of 11 Olympic-sized swimming pools — per week. The wells are located at the toe of the landslide along the shoreline, helping relieve built-up water pressure that is fueling the slide. The emergency project represents a shift in strategy away from the horizontal hydrauger well project, a change driven by the discovery of the deeper and faster-moving Altamira Landslide.

Early indications are that the deep wells are having a positive effect on slowing the rate of land movement. On Oct. 1, the council voted to allocate $6.1 million to continue emergency work, up to $4 million for additional critical dewatering wells, and $4 million for winterization efforts to prepare for the next rainy season. This includes lining canyons and filling fissures and grabens to prevent water from percolating underground and worsening land movement. While using a combination of Supervisor Hahn’s relief funds, excess reserves, emergency reserves, and American Rescue Plan Act funds for this investment, the city will continue to pursue all avenues for potential financial assistance from the county, state and federal governments.

Recent landslide data presented to the city council on Oct. 1 shows a continued slowing trend across the landslide complex. Between Aug. 1 to Sept. 4, the average movement velocity decelerated by 13%, with an overall movement of 8 inches per week. Land movement remains 80 times faster than in October 2022, and it continues to severely impact public and private roads, private property, including hundreds of residential structures, utility infrastructure and trails and open space areas.