Power outages have spread across the Palos Verdes Peninsula amid worsening landslides. After the loss of gas and electricity has plunged parts of Rancho Palos Verdes into chaos, dozens of residents in the neighboring town of Rolling Hills are dealing with the loss of power.
Affected Rolling Hills residents will have their gas supply shut off Monday afternoon. The power will be shut off in about 48 hours.
Late last week, Rolling Hills officials, citing communications from utility companies, announced that 51 homes would be without power by 6 p.m. Wednesday, and nearly three dozen were expected to be without gas service by 3 p.m. Monday due to ongoing ground movement that has caused evacuation warnings and At least one fire In recent weeks.
Like many of the power outages affecting the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes, these latest outages are for an indefinite period.
The city said in a statement last week that it had asked Southern California Gas Co. and Southern California Edison to “aggressively study engineering solutions” to restore service as soon as possible. Rolling Hills Mayor Leah Mirsch reiterated the same in a statement to The Times Sunday night.
“The safety and well-being of our residents remains the City’s top priority,” Mirsch wrote. “We have all been impacted by the power outages and are committed to holding utilities accountable, pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services quickly and safely.”
Rolling Hills officials warned that power to affected homes could be cut off at any time between now and Wednesday evening. The city encouraged residents to contact utility companies directly for more detailed information through the Southern California Gas and SCE websites.
The news comes days after SCE cut power to several dozen homes in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club and Western Seaview neighborhoods of Rancho Palos Verdes. Earlier, power and gas had been cut off to 140 homes in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood.
“The earth movement there has created such a dangerous situation that we must make the difficult decision to shut off power indefinitely,” said David Eisenhauer, a spokesman for SCE. he said at that time“We have an obligation that goes beyond providing electric service and that obligation is safety: the safety of the community and the safety of our teams.”
Some areas have also had to deal with gas, cable and internet outages and evacuation warnings, though some residents have decided to stay home.
Local officials have become concerned that the loss of electricity could create additional safety issues because sewage systems and pumps needed to remove groundwater that can cause earth movement require power to operate.
Previously, officials had said The power outages on the peninsula are aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires sparked by power lines. Last month, a power line fell and sparked near dry vegetation, leading to a small fire in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood.
On Sept. 3, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the city of Ranchos Palos Verdes. In his statement, Newsom said the ground in the area had been moving up to 12 inches per week and that the earth movement had accelerated significantly after severe storms in 2023 and 2024.
