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An aerial view of Joe Badame\u2019s home, shown at lower center, where his family is still living without municipal electricity and natural gas service because of ongoing landslide movement in the area in Rancho Palos Verdes.<\/p>\n
(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got 100-plus homes in here that are acting like we\u2019re out in the middle of the Mojave Desert,\u201d said Kent Attridge, president of the Portuguese Bend Community Assn. \u201cWe\u2019re doing what we have to do to stay in our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been the overwhelming motivation for residents in this neighborhood, who have refused to relent against an erratic landslide that has presented challenge after challenge. <\/p>\n
First it was widespread damage from accelerating land movement in early 2024: roads and homes splitting, cracking and dropping, some beyond repair. Then SoCalGas and Southern California Edison, in July<\/a> and September<\/a> that year, indefinitely cut their service to the area.<\/p>\n But with grit, determination and a bigger cash layout than most expected (and some could afford), the residents of about 120 homes have managed to stay put. <\/p>\n Joe Badame inspects Tesla solar batteries. It\u2019s been more than a year without grid power, and he is worried about the winter.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cThe inconvenience is worth it,\u201d Badame said, taking in the view of the sparkling Pacific, looking past his massive propane tank that sits just off their warped street. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford a place like this anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n While a testament to their resilience, \u201coff-grid\u201d is a designation that many hope they can soon shed, especially as the hours of available solar charging dwindle and storms return to threaten their precarious slopes.<\/p>\n \u201cAt this point now, it\u2019s time to recharge the area,\u201d Badame said. \u201cWinter\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Even before most people in this community relied on the sun for energy, they dreaded rain.<\/p>\n Increased rainfall leads to more groundwater, which in this corner of the Palos Verdes peninsula acts as fuel for a complex of slow-moving<\/a> landslides that have plagued the area since the late 1950s and, in the last two years, brought escalating movement<\/a> after two particularly wet seasons.<\/p>\n One key defense against this process: a network of de-watering wells, which pump out the water that lubricates the soil\u2019s clay layers. But the pumps require electricity and residents want them hooked to the grid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to operate these de-watering wells off of propane-powered generators … but it\u2019s expensive,\u201d Attridge, 78, said. \u201cI\u2019ve written letters, the city\u2019s written letters, but it\u2019s kind of fallen on deaf ears.\u201d<\/p>\n An aerial view in August 2024 of a large fissure that opened up, damaging a Portuguese Bend putting green and home after last winter\u2019s heavy rain in Rancho Palos Verdes.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Local officials say generators struggle to run for long durations and frequently break down, meaning many of the pumps have been operating on a limited schedule. <\/p>\n Restoring electricity, even just for the wells, is \u201cthe biggest thing that we could have to slow the movement,\u201d said Gordon Leon, chair of the Abalone Cove Landslide Abatement District, an assessment-funded group<\/a> focused on local landslide mitigation. Since last September when Edison cut electricity, the district has spent about $235,000 on generators, fuel and related maintenance, Leon said. That\u2019s compared with about $36,000 spent in prior years for 24\/7 grid-powered electricity. <\/p>\n But Edison officials have continued to say it cannot safely restore power because of ongoing movement, concerned about<\/a> infrastructure damage that can increase chances \u201cof system failure, fire ignition or other public safety hazards.\u201d <\/p>\n Diane Castro, an SCE spokesperson, said the utility will consider re-energizing the area after \u201ccontinued and sustained reduction in land movement\u201d at a rate of 1 inch a week or less, which she called \u201cpre-2023 rates.\u201d <\/p>\n Many fear, however, that the electricity cuts themselves are making it more difficult to reach Edison\u2019s threshold. <\/p>\n \u201cIf [the wells] were on 24\/7, I think we\u2019d be well under an inch now,\u201d said Martha de la Torre, Badame\u2019s wife. <\/p>\n Badame checks a crack in a foundation wall.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The most active sections of the landslide \u2014 now mostly in the Portuguese Bend community \u2014 have fallen to around 2 inches a week, according to the city\u2019s latest data.<\/a> It\u2019s still well above historical averages for the area, but significantly down from a peak of more than a foot a week during the summer of 2024. Other slopes in the area that had faced catastrophic movement<\/a> have completely stilled. <\/p>\n Local officials have credited the de-watering wells with the continued declines in movement, probably aided by a relatively dry winter last year.<\/p>\n The city of Rancho Palos Verdes also operates a contingent of the off-grid de-watering wells and has been able to run them constantly, but it\u2019s been a strain on their already strapped budget, said spokesperson Megan Barnes. In the last fiscal year, the city spent $1.7 million on generators and fuel to keep them pumping. And that\u2019s on top of an estimated $150,000 for generators that power the neighborhood\u2019s sewer system, Barnes said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are hopeful that the movement can reach SCE\u2019s threshold soon, and we continue to work with SCE … in an effort to bring residents back on the grid,\u201d Barnes said in a statement. \u201cThese residents\u2019 lives have been upended, and they continue to suffer significant quality of life impacts, from fuel costs, to noise, air quality, and environmental impacts from the generators \u2014 not to mention the high costs they have spent converting to alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Badame checks on recent improvements to his home\u2019s foundation in Rancho Palos Verdes. He recently lifted the home to try to offset ongoing land movement.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Edison has reconnected 121 customers who previously lost power in other areas also affected by the landslides, Castro said. A total of 174 remain without power, the vast majority in the Portuguese Bend community. About two dozen of those are red-tagged, deemed uninhabitable because of significant damage from the slides. <\/p>\n SoCalGas has not publicly shared a threshold it needs to establish before restoration, but in a statement said it is still \u201cclosely monitoring the land movement and its gas infrastructure.\u201d Gas service has been restored to some neighborhoods near Portuguese Bend that also lost service last year. <\/p>\n California Water Service has maintained service in the landslide area. Most of its lines are now above ground with \u201cswing joints\u201d to help withstand movement, and a 24\/7 crew is stationed in the area, according to spokesperson Yvonne Kingman. <\/p>\n But early storms that brought record November rains<\/a> have many on edge. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what winter\u2019s going to bring in terms of water entering the landslide,\u201d Attridge said. \u201cWe want to keep pumping out more.\u201d<\/p>\n While there is increased interest in California to move off the grid with solar panels and batteries \u2014 especially as utilities expand the use of power shutoffs<\/a> to prevent fire starts \u2014 completely off-grid homes remain rare. Experts say most people moving toward energy independence<\/a> remain connected to utilities for backup power.<\/p>\n While there are some fully off-grid dwellers, ranging from high-end desert oases<\/a> and North Coast communes<\/a> to the famous counterculture settlement of Imperial County\u2019s \u201cSlab City,\u201d<\/a> an off-grid suburb is one of a kind.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve not heard of a situation that\u2019s being experienced in Palos Verdes,\u201d said Scott Samuelsen, the founding director of the Advanced Power and Energy Program<\/a> at UC Irvine. He compared the circumstances with those after a natural disaster, such as a hurricane that damages power lines or a major wildfire that destroys key transmission lines.<\/a> But in those cases, he said utilities typically work nonstop to restore connectivity and often provide short-term backup power. <\/p>\n SCE has provided no direct financial support or backup power to the residents without electricity in the landslide zone. <\/p>\n Brad Heavner, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Assn., said the situation in Rancho Palos Verdes reminds him most of Puerto Rico, where officials are still struggling to provide dependable electricity more than eight years after Hurricane Maria wiped out much of the grid. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of [Puerto Rico] is still running on solar and storage only,\u201d Heavner said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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