Rancho Palos Verdes residents voice frustration, plead for help amid landslide crisis
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KABC) -- Neighbors voiced their frustration to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council Tuesday evening after electricity and gas were cut from homes due to landslide issues.
Residents who spoke up at a meeting pleaded for help and some made it clear that they were choosing to stay in their homes.
"We are not leaving. This community is not leaving," resident Tim Kelly said. "As somebody said at a meeting on Saturday to the sheriff, if you come to take us out of here, where are you going to put us? We're not going."
RELATED: Newsom declares state of emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes
City Council drew ire and blame was also placed on Southern California Edison.
The company gave people in the Portugues Bend area Sunday less than a day's notice that their power was going to be shut off. On Monday, people in the Seaview area were given hours before they lost their power.
"They received less than a day's notice before lights were turned off. That is absolutely unacceptable," state Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi said. "We need to do a better job to regulate our utilities so that they don't fail our residents like this."
Residents in the Portuguese Bend area were also placed under an evacuation warning. The Seaview residences were not under an evacuation warning.
Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday proclaimed a state of emergency today in the city in an effort to free up state resources to assist in the response.
The land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes has accelerated across 680 acres following heavy rains in spring 2023, causing damage to homes, roads and utilities.
The affected areas for the power shutoff can be found at rpvca.gov/1707/Land-Movement-Updates. Officials said residents can also check to see whether they are in the evacuation area at protect.genasys.com/search or on the genasys Protect app.
City News Service contributed to this report.
