Latest Updates

Council reviews landslide emergency; stabilization ordinance extension on the table

At its August 4 meeting, the City Council received the latest landslide emergency update and considered renewing the urgency ordinance — first adopted in September 2024 — that streamlines approvals for homeowners stabilizing and re-leveling houses in the landslide area. Because the ordinance runs only through the end of 2026 and the local emergency is expected to continue, the Council weighed extending it through December 31, 2028.

• Watch for the staff report and video on the City's agenda portal.

Land movement now 60% slower than a year ago

Early-July survey data shows the landslide complex moving 60% slower than one year ago, despite a slightly above-average rainy season. Average movement in areas still moving within the active boundary fell to 1.1 inches per week, a 15% decrease since May.

• Portuguese Bend Landslide: decelerated ~13.9% to 0.94 in/week.
• Abalone Cove Landslide: decelerated ~15.8% to 1.4 in/week.
• Deep dewatering wells have now removed over half a billion gallons of groundwater since fall 2024; production rose after two wells sheared by land movement were re-drilled.

Third landslide abatement district back before the Council

The Council revisited a proposal to form a new Geologic Hazard Abatement District (GHAD) covering the Portuguese Bend landslide — a third district alongside the Abalone Cove (ACLAD) and Klondike Canyon (KCLAD) districts formed in 1981. A GHAD is funded by assessments on properties within its boundary and can own and operate mitigation measures like dewatering wells. Discussions continue alongside voluntary buyout program news.

Buyout expansion under discussion amid delays

More than two years after the storm-driven acceleration, homeowners selected for buyouts were still awaiting next steps. The city has been selected for a $42 million FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant (Round 1, 22 homes) and a $10.16 million grant (Round 2), but cannot purchase homes until FEMA formally awards the grants. In February, the Council announced up to 13 additional homes might be purchased with newly available Cal OES disaster relief funds.

Overnight closures on Palos Verdes Drive South for repairs

A two-mile stretch of Palos Verdes Drive South through the landslide zone closed overnight (8 p.m.–6 a.m.) February 11–13 for repair work, finishing early. The City continues regular inspections and repaving of the constantly shifting roadway, and is developing a larger PV Drive South regrading project that may require temporary closures.

The year the slide slowed down

Aggressive dewatering, hydraugers, winterization work, and a drier stretch brought dramatic deceleration across the complex during 2025:

• Seaview and Portuguese Bend Beach Club: movement slowed to effectively zero — no measurable movement since early in the year.
• Gas restoration: SoCalGas upgraded and tested infrastructure in Seaview and began restoring service to homeowners who requested it.
• Financial Assistance Grant Program: closed June 30, 2025, after distributing $2.2 million to 223 applicants (up to $10,000 each) from a $2.8 million fund.
• New wells: the City coordinated with ACLAD and KCLAD to install seven additional dewatering wells across the complex.
• Remediation project: the ~$33 million Portuguese Bend Landslide Remediation Project advanced through environmental review, backed by a $23.3 million FEMA grant.

Peak crisis: shutoffs, buyouts, and the dewatering push

• September 2024: Southern California Edison cut power to about 245 homes in Portuguese Bend and Seaview as accelerating movement made electric service unsafe; more shutoffs followed (105 additional Seaview homes). SoCalGas had cut gas to 135 Portuguese Bend homes in July. Governor Newsom secured federal assistance and the state supported the city's emergency response.
• September 2024: Council adopted the urgency ordinance easing permits for home stabilization; the Wayfarers Chapel was fully dismantled for preservation by month's end.
• October 2024: City, FEMA, and Cal OES announced the $42 million voluntary buyout program (applications closed November 8, 2024); Council approved the $2.8 million emergency financial assistance program.
• Fall 2024: Deep dewatering wells began pumping at the slide's toe — the start of what would become more than half a billion gallons removed. NASA/JPL airborne radar measured movement up to ~4 inches per week in residential areas.

Record rains reawaken the complex

Back-to-back historic wet seasons in 2023 and 2024 saturated the peninsula. The four landslides — long creeping at inches per year in places — merged into broader, faster movement across roughly 700 acres. Fissures opened across the Portuguese Bend Reserve and neighborhoods; Palos Verdes Drive South buckled repeatedly; the City declared a local emergency; and in February 2024 the landmark Wayfarers Chapel closed as its structures twisted, before being carefully dismantled for future reconstruction.