RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. () — An incoming storm set to hit Southern California this week has raised concerns in Rancho Palos Verdes, where ongoing land movement continues to affect residents and their homes.
“The more rain we get it’s going to make it worse because they found out the cause of it is the water beneath the earth that’s making it shift a lot faster,” said Palos Verdes Estates resident Cullen Gunson.
The city has installed 10 dewatering wells throughout the area, which currently pump out approximately 800 gallons per minute. However, the incoming rain could jeopardize the progress made so far. To prevent this, the city has been taking proactive measures to prepare the landslide areas.
“We’ve been lining the channels, the areas that drain down. And basically there are six of those areas that drain down into the landslide area. So they are basically grading, putting down pond liners to make sure most of that water makes its way into the ocean,” said Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank.
So far, the city has spent $43 million on response and recovery efforts. FEMA has also stepped in with $42 million to support a buyout program for the affected homes.
“About 85 applications have been received and then that actually increased the number of homes that were red-tagged. We had two before the program just three weeks ago and now we have something like 20 homes red-tagged,” Cruikshank said.
Infrastructure also remains a huge concern. Since July, over 200 residents have been left without gas and electrical services.
“A lot of them don’t have power, they’re living off generators, propane for cooking,” Gunson said.
“We’ve been sending letters and trying to correspond with both Southern California Gas and Southern California Edison. Please do what you can to start restoring power and gas service,” Cruikshank said.
Mayor Cruikshank said he’s hoping for a moderate amount of rain and also said Public Works will also be out during the storm monitoring the underground water levels.
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