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Incoming storm raises concerns over land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes

City geologists hope the dewatering efforts will continue to keep the land stable.
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KABC) -- Residents in Rancho Palos Verdes are keeping a close watch on an incoming storm, fearing heavy rainfall could worsen the ongoing land movement in the area.

"Everybody is concerned. A lot of our clients are on pins and needles around here," said attorney Terry Bailey.

Bailey represents homeowners who have been affected by the landslide and said the homes in the area continue to crack and slide further downhill.

"It's been a couple of months since I've been out here. This house on the corner here has probably dropped another 10 feet," Bailey said.

Over the last few months, the city has tried to stabilize the shifting land through its winterization program.



"There have been a number of winterization methods out on the landslide and that includes filling in fissures at the top of the landslide, sealing a lot of cracks, installing palm liners in the canyon bottoms," said city geologist Michael Phipps.

Radar imagery shows that the land movement has slowed to one to four inches a week. Phipps credits the 11 dewatering wells that were installed throughout the area.

"We've pulled over 444 acre-feet of water out of the landslide. That's about 145 million gallons of water that have been extracted. All that water is going into the ocean," Phipps said.

For now, the hope is that the dewatering efforts will continue to keep the land stable, but the upcoming days will be critical in how well the land can withstand the storm.
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