ARI SHAPIRO: The city of Rancho Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles, is perched atop a majestic cliff with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. The downside, one section of the city is on an ancient landslide complex. It's been active since the 1950s but has gotten worse in recent years. And the last few weeks, the movement has gotten so bad that power and gas have been shut off to some homes. Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. LAist reporter, Yusra Farzan, is here to tell us more. Hi, there.
YUSRA FARZAN: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What does all this movement look like on the ground?
FARZAN: Well, the neighborhood that's affected has about 400 homes. And when you drive the main street through that area, it's like driving on a ski slope, just a series of bumps and dips. There are bulges in the roads, leaning electrical poles. I've seen driveways drop down like 6 to 10 feet from the house they lead to. Sometimes you have to go in the back door because there's no way to walk up the front anymore. The water pipes and sewer lines are exposed because they break so often. Gordon Leon lives in the area, and his gas and power have been turned off because officials are worried the land movement could ignite a fire.
GORDON LEON: Our front yard, between our house and Vanderlip, has a fissure that's roughly 20 feet deep and 35 feet wide, which makes our driveway impassable.
FARZAN: Residents have let me into their homes, and I've seen cracks in the foundation, doors that don't completely shut and garages and sun houses in such bad shape that officials have red-tagged them, meaning you can't go in. A handful of homes have also been red-tagged.
SHAPIRO: Yeah, that sounds like a terrifying situation to live in. We mentioned this has been going on in some form since the 1950s. Why has it gotten so much worse lately?
FARZAN: Well, the land has been moving under the Palos Verdes Peninsula for millennia extremely slowly. But it was accelerated in 1956 when LA County did a big road construction project and started digging in that region. Since then, it's been moving about half an inch to an inch a year, depending on that exact area. But if you remember, all that rain that California had the past two winters, it really sped up the land movement. The land in the area is made up of a kind of clay, which keeps water from draining. That means the clay can get slippery and even less stable. In some places, the land is now moving 7 inches a week, in others, a foot a week.
SHAPIRO: And is there anything that can be done to stop or reverse it, or are people just at the mercy of nature?
FARZAN: Well, they say they can't stop it altogether, but they hope to slow it down. Back in June, city officials began drilling holes in the ground to find where water had concentrated so they could drain it. They were going to install big pumps to pull the water out from the ground. But when they drilled the holes, they found they were dealing with a deeper, much larger landslide.
So they're coming up with a new plan, maybe drilling deeper, but it's not yet clear. In his emergency declaration, Governor Newsom said his office is helping the city to try to get federal money to help with the groundwater work. The emergency declaration also gives the city manpower and equipment from the state to help stabilize the land movement. But geologists I've interviewed say a lot will depend on how much rain California gets this upcoming winter.
SHAPIRO: That is LAist's Yusra Farzan. Thank you.
FARZAN: Thank you, Ari. You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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