Every piece of the Palos Verdes landslide story, in one place.
An independent, neutral information hub on land movement across the Palos Verdes Peninsula, centered on the Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex.
Current Status at a Glance
Movement figures are the City's summary of its early-October 2026 survey (Sept. 3 to Oct. 6, 2026), reported Oct. 28, 2026. Areas still moving inside the active landslide boundary averaged 1.05 inches per week, up 7.6% since the early-August survey. The City's geologist attributes the increase largely to erosion at the landslide's toe from wave action, caused by extreme southerly swells during an unusually active hurricane season in the southeast Pacific. The City says the complex is still moving about 30% slower than a year earlier. It gave the August-to-September changes only as percentages and, as of Nov. 5, 2026, had not published September per-area rates or posted a newer survey; City staff repeated these early-October figures at the Nov. 4 Council meeting (City weekly report No. 26-44, Nov. 5, 2026, pp. 4–5). The surveyor's report for this survey (Addendum No. 17; the report was updated Oct. 18) gives average movement of 0.4 ft/month among the points that moved and an average velocity change of +14% from the previous survey. It counts 55 of 102 points as moving, while the point-by-point flags in the City's spreadsheet mark 53, the same 53 that carry arrows on the City's Oct. 6 contour map; the City's posted documents do not explain the difference (map and details).
Power: The City says SCE has stated that "a continued and sustained reduction in land movement near its electrical infrastructure to less than 1 inch per week" would be needed before it would consider re-energizing the Portuguese Bend area (City update, September 9, 2026, now in the City's 2026 Community Updates Archive). That test applies to movement near SCE's lines, not to the complex-wide average. In its own May 19, 2025 update, SCE also said that when movement is closer to pre-2023 levels, it will deploy engineering solutions to evaluate next steps for re-energization. In an Oct. 13, 2026 letter to the City Manager, published with the staff report for the Nov. 4 Council meeting, SCE said movement in the Portuguese Bend area "continues to exceed the one inch/week safety threshold," that conditions do not allow safe re-energization, and that it will keep its threshold of less than 1 inch per week. It also declined to commit to engineering and design work before that threshold is met. The letter does not say which measurements SCE used, and it predates the City's Oct. 28 figures (details). As of that staff report, power had not been restored in the Portuguese Bend Community Association (PBCA) neighborhood, and the City said there was no indication when it would be. SCE has re-energized 84 homes in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club and Seaview, plus 2 well meters for the Klondike Canyon abatement district; 7 homes in those two neighborhoods remain without power. The report says the City Manager wrote to SCE's chief executive in August 2026 asking to meet to discuss the latest movement measurements and reconsider the threshold for restoring power in the PBCA, and that a meeting with SCE's chief operating officer was set for Oct. 30. As of Nov. 5, 2026, neither the City's written updates nor SCE's pages had reported the outcome of that meeting: the City's Land Movement Updates page still showed its Oct. 28 entry as the newest; the City's Nov. 5 weekly report does not mention the meeting; the City's presentation at the Nov. 4 Council meeting lists the meeting only by its purpose (to discuss the City's request to adjust the threshold for restoring power in the PBCA and to begin engineering and design for its landslide mitigation projects; slide 18); and SCE's Rancho Palos Verdes page still showed its August 2026 notice as the newest. An "Update from SCE regarding outages and improvements to infrastructure" is still on the Council's tentative agenda for November 17 (City weekly report No. 26-44, Nov. 5, 2026, p. 51); the title does not say whether it will cover the PBCA. Next check: the Nov. 17 SCE item and the City's Nov. 12 weekly report.
Nov. 4 Council meeting: City staff gave the latest landslide update, and the Council "renewed for 60 days the local emergencies in the landslide area and the temporary prohibition of motorcycles and bicycles along a two-mile stretch of Palos Verdes Drive South," according to the City Manager's Nov. 5 weekly report (No. 26-44, p. 5); the previous renewal was on Sept. 15, 2026. The report gives no vote count, resolution numbers or new end date, and for all of the Council's actions it refers readers to the meeting video, which is posted; the minutes and the adopted resolutions had not been posted as of Nov. 6, 2026. Staff had proposed three 60-day resolutions: extending the ban on unicycles, bicycles, motorcycles and other one-, two- and three-wheeled vehicles on PV Drive South inside the complex; continuing the landslide local emergency; and continuing the local de-energization emergency for the PBCA, Beach Club and Seaview neighborhoods. The staff report had asked the Council to extend the two emergencies through Jan. 3, 2027 (pp. 52–53), and the City's tentative agendas dated Nov. 5 list the next extension of the landslide emergency resolutions, with a progress report, for Dec. 1, 2026 (No. 26-44, pp. 51–52). Staff had also recommended that the Council formally accept and appropriate $55,964,462 in federal grants, namely $54,024,898 in FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds for buyout Rounds 1 and 2 (27 properties; $52,145,417 for acquisitions and the rest for management costs) and a $1,939,564 FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation grant for permanent power to five existing deep dewatering wells, and that it approve Amendments No. 1 to two existing agreements for the BRIC 2022 Phase 2 and BRIC 2025 remediation projects: Geo-Logic Associates (+$2,900,000, design and construction documents) and LSA Associates (+$150,937, environmental permitting), both paid from new appropriations from the City's Capital Infrastructure Projects fund (CIP Fund 330); the City's Oct. 28 update calls these "two contracts totaling a combined over $3 million." Staff had also offered an alternative (Alternative 6) that would have let the City Manager approve a Geosyntec amendment in place of the GLA amendment, for Council ratification on Nov. 17. In the City's RPVtv video update posted Nov. 5, 2026, City Manager Ara Mihranian says the Council approved nearly $56 million in federal grant funding on Nov. 4: more than $54 million for the voluntary buyout of 27 red- and yellow-tagged properties and $1.9 million for permanent power to the deep dewatering wells; the City's Nov. 5 weekly report, in the same summary that reports the renewals, says the Council "will consider formally accepting" the grants. Patch reported on Nov. 6 that the vote was 5-0 and that the Council also approved the Geo-Logic Associates (+$2.9 million) and LSA Associates (+$150,937) amendments; the City's video update and its Nov. 5 weekly report do not mention a vote count or the amendments, and the minutes had not been posted as of Nov. 6, 2026 (details). Next check: the Nov. 4 minutes (vote record, amendments, resolutions and new end date), or the City's next weekly report (due Thursday, Nov. 12). The City's Oct. 28 update says its winterization measures are complete and held up well during recent rain, and that no pump trucks were needed on PV Drive South, where drainage improvements had been added; its Oct. 28 weekly report says that in the week of Oct. 18 (about 0.5 inch of rain) the PV Drive South drainage needed no pumping and the road did not close, and its Nov. 5 report says about 0.9 inch fell on the area the weekend of Oct. 31 and the drainage improvements "performed as intended and required no pumping operations or roadway closures" (No. 26-44, p. 24). Governor Newsom proclaimed a statewide state of emergency for El Niño preparedness the week of September 21. On October 6 the City Council proclaimed its own local El Niño emergency: the minutes of that meeting (approved Oct. 20, according to the draft minutes of the Oct. 20 meeting) record it as Resolution No. 2026-78, adopted 5-0. In a separate proclamation dated Sept. 21, 2026, the Governor ended a list of older state emergencies, including the one proclaimed Sept. 3, 2024 for "Rancho Palos Verdes Land Movement"; the staff report for Nov. 4 notes that state emergency was lifted and says that as long as the Council extends the local emergency, the City can continue to seek relaxed permitting and procurement processes. At its Oct. 20 meeting the Council considered continuing the emergency justification for landslide work and emergency contracting, with a proposed $6 million amendment to Geosyntec's contract for construction design of two remediation projects. The draft minutes of that meeting, posted with the Nov. 4 agenda, show the item was pulled for public comment; the Council then voted 5-0 to reconfirm, by four-fifths vote, the need to continue the landslide emergency work, and deferred the Geosyntec amendment and its appropriations to a date uncertain (details). See Maps & Data for detail, or verify at the source: City 2026 Community Updates Archive (Oct. 28, Oct. 14 and Sept. 9, 2026 entries) · GPS surveys & contour maps · City staff report for the Nov. 4, 2026 Council meeting (a large PDF; movement pp. 6–7, 14–15; wells pp. 7, 17–18; utilities p. 25 and Attachment U; grants, contracts and resolutions pp. 1–2, 37–38, 52–53, 59) · Nov. 4, 2026 Council agenda · Draft minutes, Oct. 20, 2026 Council meeting · City weekly report No. 26-43 (Oct. 28, 2026; a large PDF; p. 20) · City weekly report No. 26-44 (Nov. 5, 2026; a large PDF; pp. 4–6, 24, 51–52) · Nov. 4, 2026 meeting video and index · RPVtv City Council Update, Nov. 4, 2026 (City video, posted Nov. 5) · Patch (Nov. 6, 2026) · City Public Works presentation, Nov. 4, 2026 Council meeting, Item 3 (PDF; slides 2, 18, 20) · Governor's proclamation ending state emergencies (Sept. 21, 2026; PDF) · City staff report (Sept. 15, 2026) · City weekly report (Sept. 30, 2026) · City weekly report (Oct. 7, 2026) · City weekly report No. 26-41 (Oct. 14, 2026; large PDF) · City weekly report No. 26-42 (Oct. 21, 2026; large PDF) · Draft minutes, Oct. 6, 2026 Council meeting · Oct. 20, 2026 Council agenda · Oct. 20, 2026 meeting video and index · SCE updates page (May 19, 2025 entry; newest entry August 2026; checked Nov. 5, 2026) · City buyout program (Oct. 14, 2026 update; checked Nov. 6, 2026).
What Is Happening in Palos Verdes?
The southern slope of the Palos Verdes Peninsula sits atop a large ancient landslide: the Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex, sometimes called the Ancient Altamira Landslide Complex. Part of it has been moving since 1956, when construction fill reactivated the ancient slide. It includes four connected landslides: Portuguese Bend, Abalone Cove, Klondike Canyon, and the Beach Club slide.
After record rains in 2023 and 2024, movement accelerated dramatically — the City says it peaked at nearly 1 foot per week in summer 2024 — damaging hundreds of homes, breaking roads and utility lines, forcing power and gas shutoffs, and prompting the dismantling of the historic Wayfarers Chapel. Federal, state, and city agencies responded with emergency declarations, buyout programs, and a major dewatering effort. Movement has slowed significantly since the City's deep dewatering wells began pumping in September 2024.
New here? Start with these
- History & GeologyHow an ancient landslide reawakened in 1956 — and what makes this ground move.
- Latest UpdatesA running, dated record of movement data, city actions, and news.
- For ResidentsBuyouts, utilities, tax relief, permits, and emergency contacts.
- FAQShort answers to common questions about movement, power, buyouts, and who pays.
Affected by the landslide?
If you own property or live in the land movement area, these programs and protections may apply to you. The two property-tax relief options have filing deadlines, listed below.
- Voluntary Property Buyout ProgramVoluntary purchases of homes damaged or threatened by land movement, funded by FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and administered with Cal OES. 27 homes have been selected (Rounds 1 and 2). On Oct. 14, 2026 the City announced it has been formally awarded over $54 million in FEMA grants for both rounds. It says it will buy homes in groups of a few at a time, expected to start in the coming months, and that acquiring all 27 will likely take a few years; its program consultant, Black & Veatch, will contact selected owners directly. A Round 3 application (~8 more homes) remains waitlisted.
- Property-tax relief & reassessmentOwners who believe their home's market value fell below its assessed value may file for a Decline-in-Value (Prop 8) review with the L.A. County Assessor. The annual filing period is July 2 through November 30; an application postmarked by November 30 (or the next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday) counts. A reduction is temporary, and the tax bill could rise by more than 2% a year as values recover. For Misfortune & Calamity relief, file form ADS-820 within 12 months of the date of damage. In 2025 the Assessor began reassessing red- and yellow-tagged homes without waiting for owners to apply.
- Stabilization permitsA city urgency ordinance streamlines approvals to stabilize and re-level homes in the slide area.
- Utility statusTrack SCE, SoCalGas, and Cal Water service pages for the landslide area, including restorations.
Sources: City buyout program (Oct. 14, 2026 update) · L.A. County Assessor: Decline-in-Value · L.A. County Assessor: disaster relief · City tax relief and insurance resources.
Open the Resident GuideEmergency contacts
Life-threatening emergency: call 911. The City also says to call 911 if you see any sudden shift on your property.
New cracks or ground movement (non-emergency): City Building & Safety, 310-544-5280 or BuildingSafety@RPVca.gov (include photos). More numbers for gas, water, power, and sewer.
Emergency alerts: text ALERTRPV to 888-777 or register at AlertSouthBay.com.
Evacuation zones: find your zone at PVPready.gov, and learn the difference between an evacuation warning and an evacuation order.
Disaster Distress Helpline: call or text 1-800-985-5990 (24/7 free counseling).
Source: City Land Movement Updates (checked November 5, 2026).
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The Landslide from Above
Explore the Hub
Latest Updates
Dated entries tracking survey results, dewatering progress, council decisions, utility restorations, and road work as they happen.
Read the updates →History & Geology
From the ancient slide and the 1956 reactivation to the 2023–24 acceleration: a full timeline plus the geology underneath it all.
Learn the history →Meetings & Agencies
City Council landslide updates, the monthly Landslide Complex Working Group, and the ACLAD and KCLAD abatement districts.
Track the meetings →Reports & Documents
Official land movement reports, GPS survey data, the remediation project EIR, NASA/JPL analyses, and key scientific papers.
Browse the documents →Landslide Map & Data
An interactive map of the City's Portuguese Bend landslide complex boundary, plus where the land is moving and how fast — City GPS surveys, NASA radar imagery, boundary maps explained, and a printable landslide map (PDF).
Open the landslide map →Peninsula-Wide Landslides
Beyond Portuguese Bend: Flying Triangle, the Rolling Hills Estates collapse, Ocean Trails, Sunken City, White Point, and more — every peninsula slide, kept distinct.
See all the slides →For Residents
Everything affected homeowners need: the buyout program, financial assistance, utilities, tax relief, insurance realities, and permits.
Get resources →Key Facts
| Topic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Active area | The City's Ordinance 692 (2025) puts current land movement at about 715 acres within the mapped ancient Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex, on the peninsula's south side (about 700 acres in March 2024). It describes the complex's four historically active landslide areas as about 1,076 acres as mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey. See the landslide map for the City's boundary. |
| Moving since | 1956 (Portuguese Bend), 1974 (Abalone Cove), ~1980 (Klondike Canyon). The 2023–24 storms triggered the fastest movement ever recorded here. |
| Peak movement | The City says movement peaked at nearly 1 foot per week in summer 2024; in its July 2024 survey, the Portuguese Bend Landslide averaged about 11 inches per week and Abalone Cove about 10. NASA radar flights between Sept. 18 and Oct. 17, 2024 measured up to about 4 inches per week in residential areas. |
| Homes affected | About 650 homes sit in the affected communities — Portuguese Bend, Seaview, the Portuguese Bend Beach Club, and neighboring areas. |
| Response | Local emergency declarations, deep dewatering wells, winterization, and FEMA-funded voluntary buyouts administered with Cal OES. On Oct. 14, 2026 the City announced it has been formally awarded over $54 million in FEMA grants for buyout Rounds 1 and 2 (27 homes; FEMA had announced approval of more than $54 million for 27 properties on Sept. 29), with purchases expected to start in the coming months, a few homes at a time; the City's Grant Tracker now lists both rounds as "Awarded" (checked Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 2026). The City also announced a formal award of over $1.9 million in FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation funding for infrastructure to give its deep dewatering wells a permanent power source (with a $646,500 local match, per the announcement; the staff report for the Nov. 4 Council meeting gives $646,521 toward a $2,586,085 project; the City says it spends about $53,000 a month to rent and fuel the generators that run them), and said it had applied for a $3 million federal PROTECT grant to design the reconstruction of a two-mile stretch of PV Drive South. In the City's RPVtv video update posted Nov. 5, 2026, City Manager Ara Mihranian says the Council approved nearly $56 million in federal grant funding on Nov. 4: more than $54 million for the voluntary buyout of 27 red- and yellow-tagged properties and $1.9 million for permanent power to the deep dewatering wells. For the long-term Portuguese Bend Landslide Remediation Project, which would fill fissures, add surface drainage, and install hydraugers (horizontal dewatering wells that pull out water trapped deep underground), the City has a pending $48.7M FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program application (listed as "Applied" on the City's Grant Tracker when checked Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 2026; the staff report for the Nov. 4 Council meeting lists it as "Waitlisted"), with a $12.1M City match committed. The City estimates it will have spent about $61.5M of its own funds from October 2022 through mid-2026 (April 29, 2026 estimate; earlier reported as $64.4M). For FY 2025–26, a City spokesperson told Patch the City spent about $15M on the landslide (~38% of its roughly $40M General Fund operating budget); the City's September 15, 2026 staff report puts preliminary FY 2025–26 year-end landslide project expenditures at about $12.9M. The spokesperson also said the City expects to have spent roughly $75M from October 2022 through June 2027. On September 21, 2026, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi announced a $5M state budget allocation for the City. His announcement says it will help the City offset about $15M in FY 2025–26 expenditures; a City spokesperson told Patch the money is for future landslide remediation efforts. Grants and applications. |
| Measure RS (Nov. 3 ballot) | Measure RS asked voters whether to raise the City's transient occupancy (hotel) tax, paid only by hotel and motel guests, from 10% to 13%. It is a general tax; the City estimates about $2.2M a year for its General Fund. The ballot question lists wildfire and disaster preparedness, roads and storm drains, sinkholes, landslides and land movement, and general City services. In unofficial L.A. County Registrar results as of Nov. 6, 2026, 4:37 p.m., Measure RS had 75.14% yes (12,060 votes) and 24.86% no (3,989); it needs a simple majority, and counting continues until the results are certified (details). The Registrar is scheduled to certify the election on Nov. 27, 2026, and the City Council's certification is on its tentative agenda for Dec. 15 (City weekly report No. 26-44, Nov. 5, 2026, p. 52). According to the City Attorney's impartial analysis, if the measure is approved the new rate takes effect 10 days after the Council certifies the results. PVLandslide.com does not endorse candidates or take positions on ballot measures. Registrar results · Registrar's update schedule (PDF) · City details · City Attorney's impartial analysis (PDF). |
| Building rules | Since September 2025, Ordinance 692 permanently bans new residential construction (including additions) in the City's landslide regulation area — about 400 homes and 130 vacant lots — while allowing repair and replacement within existing footprints. See the boundary map and address search for which parcels are covered. |
| Latest survey | Movement has slowed sharply since late 2024. In the City's early-October 2026 survey (Sept. 3 to Oct. 6, 2026; reported Oct. 28), areas still moving inside the active landslide boundary averaged 1.05 inches per week, up 7.6% since the early-August survey and about 30% slower than a year earlier. The Portuguese Bend Landslide averaged 0.88 inches per week and the Abalone Cove Landslide 1.36; Klondike Canyon generally showed no measurable movement. The City's geologist attributes the increase largely to erosion at the landslide's toe from wave action during an unusually active hurricane season in the southeast Pacific, and the staff report for the Nov. 4 meeting says Abalone Cove's fastest-moving area is now its toe, at about 1.5 inches per week. In May 2025, SoCalGas reported no measurable movement in Seaview or the Beach Club since February 2025. |
Sources: City 2026 updates archive (survey rates, Oct. 28, 2026; buyout, well-power and PROTECT grants, Oct. 14, 2026; grant match, Mar. 18, 2026; spending estimate, Apr. 29, 2026; summer 2024 peak, Aug. 26, 2026) · City staff report for the Nov. 4, 2026 Council meeting (a large PDF; pp. 14–15, 38) · City staff report (Sept. 15, 2026: July 2024 survey rates, FY 2025–26 expenditures) · City 2025 updates archive ($10M match, Aug. 2025) · City Grant Tracker (checked Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 2026) · City weekly report No. 26-44 (Nov. 5, 2026; a large PDF; p. 52) · RPVtv City Council Update, Nov. 4, 2026 (City video, posted Nov. 5) · FEMA release R9-NR-26-36 (Sept. 29, 2026) · Asm. Muratsuchi (Sept. 21, 2026) · Patch (Sept. 22, 2026) · SoCalGas (May 22, 2025) · NASA Earth Observatory radar image (PIA26495). See Reports & Documents for more.