City to Consider Emergency Declaration Amid Gas Shutoffs, Possible Power Outages

Officials in a southern California city will vote Aug. 6 on whether to declare a new local emergency after gas service was permanently shut off last week to 135 homes sitting on an ancient—but active—landslide.

City leaders in Rancho Palos Verdes are looking for federal aid as some residents were “blindsided” by the sudden loss of natural gas July 29, creating an emergency, according to a city spokesperson.

The area in question where the shutoffs occurred is Portuguese Bend, which, like all of Rancho Palos Verdes Peninsula—which encompasses Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Estates—was built on top of an ancient landslide. It reactivated in 1956 and is one of the largest continuously active landslides in the United States, according to city officials.


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