Maps & Data — PV Landslide

Current Movement by Area (City survey data, August 2026 — published Sept. 9)

Area	Rate	Trend	Notes
Active complex overall	0.99 in/week average	▼ 9.8% since July — first time under 1 in/week since October 2023	Average across areas still moving inside the active boundary
Portuguese Bend Landslide	0.81 in/week	▼ 13.9% since July; down 92% since the wells began	Largest slide; ~74% of its historical boundary now moves under 1 in/week
Abalone Cove Landslide	1.29 in/week	▼ 7.7% since July	Fastest-moving remaining area; ACLAD wells plus new city wells
Klondike Canyon Landslide	No measurable movement	— generally none in recent surveys	KCLAD wells and drainage; beneath the Seaview area's edge
Seaview	No measurable movement	— stable since early 2026	Gas restoration underway for homes that request it
Portuguese Bend Beach Club	No measurable movement	— stable since early 2026	Movement drastically slowed since October 2024
City of Rolling Hills (edge)	≤ 0.1 in/week	— minimal	Fringe of the complex within the neighboring city

For perspective: at the fall 2024 peak, NASA/JPL radar measured up to ~4 inches per week in residential areas — and parts of the interior complex moved faster still. Rates are updated as new survey data is released; see Latest Updates.

On the ground: even where rates are low, the terrain itself is altered — roughly 16 miles of trails in the Portuguese Bend Reserve are damaged, with dozens closed and full restoration considered unlikely. Check the City's trail conditions page before hiking, and treat ground near fissures as unstable even when it looks solid.

Map: The Landslide Complex at a Glance

A schematic overview of the Greater Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex — the four active slides, the ancient boundary, dewatering wells, the 2024 utility-shutoff neighborhoods (which are also where the buyout homes are located), and key landmarks.

Portuguese Bend Landslide Abalone Cove Landslide Klondike Canyon Landslide Beach Club Landslide Ancient complex boundary Dewatering wells (City, ACLAD & KCLAD) 2024 utility shutoff areas & buyout communities Roads Palos Verdes Fault (schematic trend)

About this map: Schematic and approximate — drawn for orientation, not for parcel- or survey-level decisions. Slide outlines generalize California Geological Survey mapping (2007 boundaries; the active area expanded beyond them during 2024). Well positions indicate general locations of the City's deep dewatering wells at the Portuguese Bend toe and district wells, not exact coordinates. For authoritative maps, see the City's survey maps and NASA/JPL radar imagery.

Where exactly are the buyout homes?

The City, FEMA, and Cal OES do not publish the addresses of homes selected for the Voluntary Property Buyout Program, to protect applicants' privacy. What is public: 85 eligible applications were received; 22 homes were selected in Round 1 ($42M) and 5 more in Round 2 ($10.16M) — 27 so far — and a Round 3 application ($19M, roughly 8 more homes) awaits FEMA's decision. The participating properties lie within the Greater Portuguese Bend landslide area — principally the Portuguese Bend and Seaview communities hatched on the map above. Separately, FEMA's July 2026 Cumulative Final Public Notice (as posted by the City) describes a broader proposal to acquire and demolish up to 45 residential properties across Portuguese Bend, Seaview, and the Beach Club as part of the overall mitigation package — a proposed total, distinct from the homes currently selected. We deliberately do not attempt to identify individual homes.

How the Landslide Is Measured

City GPS surveys

The City's contractors survey a dense network of GPS monuments across the complex, producing the periodic movement reports quoted everywhere (including here). This is the authoritative rate dataset, published via the City's Landslide Surveys and Land Movement Updates pages.

City survey updates →

NASA/JPL airborne radar

JPL's UAVSAR instrument, flown on a Gulfstream III, mapped the slide's full extent, speed, and direction during the 2024 peak — independently confirming the City's ground measurements and revealing movement beyond the 2007 mapped boundary toward Abalone Cove.

JPL analysis & imagery →

Boundary & hazard maps

The California Geological Survey mapped the active slides (Portuguese Bend, Abalone Cove, Klondike) inset within the ancient complex; its 2007 boundaries remain the standard reference, with the active area expanding beyond them during 2024.

California Geological Survey →

Groundwater & wells

Dewatering well output is itself a dataset: about 566 million gallons pumped as of September 2026 from the slide since fall 2024, with production tracked well-by-well in Working Group notes and Council staff reports. Falling groundwater is the mechanism behind the slowdown.

Where to find well data →

Reading the Numbers

Inches per week is the standard unit here. For scale: 1 inch/week is about 4.3 feet per year — slow enough to walk on, fast enough to tear apart pipes, pavement, and foundations. At the 2024 peak, parts of the slide were moving at rates better measured in feet per month.

Movement is not uniform. The complex behaves like several conveyor belts of different speeds: the coastal margins have largely stopped, while interior sections of Portuguese Bend and Abalone Cove still creep. A single "average" always hides faster and slower spots — which is why per-area rates matter.

Rain is the driver. Movement historically surges one to two seasons after wet winters as water works into the deep clay layers, and eases after dry stretches and sustained pumping. The 2025–26 slowdown despite above-average rain is the strongest evidence yet that dewatering is working.

See the maps yourself

The NASA radar speed map is displayed right on this page; the interactive tools are a click away with instructions:

NASA radar speed map
Color-coded UAVSAR imagery from the fall 2024 peak — shown below.
NASA Disaster Mapping Portal
Interactive portal hosting the JPL landslide analyses.
Evacuation zone lookup
PVPready.gov — know your zone before you need it.
City survey maps & reports
Monument-by-monument vectors and rates.

See the Maps Yourself

The authoritative maps of the landslide. NASA's radar speed map is hosted right here; the interactive government tools open in their own sites, with instructions for finding the landslide data once you're there.

NASA Radar Speed Map (UAVSAR, Fall 2024)

NASA UAVSAR radar image of the Palos Verdes Peninsula with the landslide complex color-coded by speed — darkest reds mark the fastest movement, arrows show horizontal motion direction, and white lines mark the 2007 California Geological Survey active landslide boundaries.

How to read it: Colors show how fast the ground was moving between Sept. 18 and Oct. 17, 2024 — darkest red is fastest (up to ~4 inches per week in residential areas). Arrows show the direction of horizontal motion; white lines are the 2007 California Geological Survey active-slide boundaries, which the movement had expanded beyond. Four flights of the UAVSAR radar aboard a Gulfstream III jet produced the 3-D measurements. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (public domain) · full-resolution original & details at JPL.

NASA Disaster Mapping Portal (Interactive)

NASA's public portal for disaster geospatial data hosts the ARIA team's full Palos Verdes landslide analyses as interactive layers you can pan, zoom, and query.

How to find the landslide data: open the portal, type "Palos Verdes" in the search box, and select the landslide analysis layers from the results to display them on the map.

Open the NASA Disaster Mapping Portal →

Evacuation Zones — Know Your Zone (PVPready)

The Peninsula's official emergency-readiness site maps every evacuation zone. Knowing your zone before an emergency is the single most useful piece of preparation.

How to find your zone: open PVPready.gov, click "Find Your Zone," and enter your address; note the zone code (e.g., "RPV-E012") somewhere you'll remember. During an incident, the same site shows each zone's current status.

Open PVPready.gov →

City Survey Maps & Reports

The City's monument-by-monument GPS survey maps — movement vectors and weekly rates across the complex — are the authoritative record of where and how fast the land is moving. The latest products include the August 2026 GPS survey, the July 7, 2026 displacement-rate contour map, and the full GPS survey dataset (September 2007 – August 2026, spreadsheet format). The City's website blocks embedding on other sites (a security setting on their server), so these can't be shown inline; they're one click away:

Open Landslide Surveys & Mapping → Land Movement Updates →

Posted on the City of Rancho Palos Verdes Landslide Surveys and Mapping and Land Movement Updates pages, alongside the periodic survey reports quoted throughout this site.