Emergency declaration extended for Rancho Palos Verdes amid land movement concerns

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - An emergency declaration in Rancho Palos Verdes has been extended at least another 60 days, through April 6, 2024, because of land movement.

"The city is in a crisis," said Ara Mihranian, Rancho Palos Verdes City Manager.  "The landslide over the last year and a half has picked up in speed.  When you analyze the rate of movement, it comes to about 10 feet a year."

On Friday, road construction crews were out fixing and repaving Portuguese Bend again.  The road has been buckling from recent land movement.

"It’s been getting worse," said Frank Chavez, a construction worker.  "We used to come out here twice a year.  Then, it was 3 times a year.  Now, we’re out here every other month.  It’s been getting real bad."

Historic rainfall over the last 2 weeks has seemed to only make the issue worse.

This week, the historic Wayfarers Chappel closed indefinitely after the moving ground damaged the structure.  As a result, they had to cancel roughly 175 ceremonies and events through 2025.

"It is not possible to express the degree of our sadness over this situation, but it is completely beyond our control having to do with the land movement that is all over the peninsula," said Rev. Dan Burchett.

Massive movement continues along Dauntless Drive.  Officials worry people won’t see the impacts of the recent rainfall for several weeks.

"We cringe because it takes weeks to know the consequences of a rain event," said Mihranian.  "We won’t even know what is occurring as a result of the rain from 2 weeks ago.  Something immanent is out there."

Construction crews are now trying to stay ahead of the storm as more rain is expected soon.

"It’s just buckling," said Chavez.  "It seems like every time we come out here there’s a new spot.  It’s just the weather and unstable ground."