Landslides throw Rancho Palos Verdes, California, into chaos

In parts of the California community of Rancho Palos Verdes, the land is moving and subsiding so quickly that authorities have shut off gas and electricity to hundreds of homes “indefinitely.”

The area has long struggled with unstable ground, but now the landslides causing the problem have accelerated, and some buildings could be swallowed up entirely.

Last week, utility company Southern California Edison had to shut off power in the rugged, earth-shifting areas “to avoid the risk of utility equipment sparking a wildfire.”

SoCalGas began shutting off natural gas supplies to the region in May and expanded the outage to another 54 households on Friday after a gas main ruptured last week.

The Portuguese Bend neighborhood is worst affected by the problem.

The city administration issued an evacuation warning there a week ago.

Some residents have left, others are determined to stay.

They are joining forces to install generators, sewage systems and pumps needed to drain the groundwater that caused the landslides.

A man's house had been “split in half,” Jackie Golison recently told the BBC during a tour of her neighborhood.

Ms Golison said that while the roads were smooth a few months ago when they drove on the bumpy roads, they were now like the Disney attraction Mr Toad's Wild Ride.

She points to a house that has been torn from its foundations, with the front door about 2.5 meters above the ground. The scene looks like the aftermath of an earthquake.

“It's worse than an earthquake,” she said. “But it's like heaven here. It's pure bliss when it doesn't rain.”

Portuguese Bend offers ocean views and sea breezes. Horses and peacocks roam the streets lined with pepper trees.

The ground in the affluent neighborhood has been shifting for decades, usually about a foot a year. Now it's shifting by that amount every week, as two years of heavy rain accelerated the shift, damaging some homes beyond repair and prompting California to declare a state of emergency.

Not everyone can afford to invest in an independent lifestyle – the sewage system is currently powered by generators paid for by locals – or many fear that the city will close the roads and they would be forced to move anyway.

Mayor John Cruikshank, a civil engineer, believes neighborhoods like Portuguese Bend must go off the grid to survive. He is talking to private companies about possibly installing Powerwalls, which store energy for later use.

In addition, he is trying to convince the state to extend the state of emergency in order to obtain funding to support individual homeowners.

“Sometimes the forces of nature are much stronger than we know or are able to control,” he said. “We are still looking for technical solutions.”

Although the ground beneath their feet has always been shifting, the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes know that climate change is exacerbating their problems.

“The two years of rain didn’t help,” said Jay Golison, Jackie’s husband.

“As bad as a drought sounds, it sounds pretty good to us right now.”

Outdoor hiking trails that were once popular with locals and visitors alike are now closed because of cracks and air pockets that could trip horses, hikers and mountain bikers.

“I couldn’t see the ground on one of them,” Ms. Golison said of the cracks that caused her to fall from her bike.

She often goes to bed at night crying, worrying about what they will do when they have to leave and where they will afford to go with three horses, three dogs and all their investments in a potentially sinking home.

The house, in which the couple has only lived for two years, has only a few small cracks.

“We still live in it. We just built it and put every penny we have into it,” she said.

Not everyone understands the plight of homeowners in the affluent neighborhood. There are numerous comments on social media saying that residents should have known there was a problem since a landslide first destroyed homes there in the 1950s.

But locals adapted. They lifted their homes off their foundations and onto adjustable beams so the buildings could move with the terrain – a solution that worked for decades. The homes there were also cheaper than most coastal properties in California, so for many it was worth the risk for a piece of paradise.

Trump National Golf Club is a mile from Portuguese Bend. The former president bought it in 2002 after he went bankrupt when the 18th hole fell into the sea in a landslide. The club is still open.

Those who can barely afford the necessary renovation and accommodation costs – including older residents on fixed incomes – feel abandoned.

Shari Twidwell grew up in Portuguese Bend and now lives in Wyoming, but is in town to help her elderly parents.

They have lived here for 54 years but are staying in a hotel because they cannot stay in their house as there is no electricity there, even when the region sizzles during a heatwave.

“All these people are collapsing. And their houses are collapsing,” said Ms. Twidwell, whose 88-year-old father is blind and has advanced Parkinson's disease.

Kendall and KC King, the siblings who live next door, comfort her.

The Kings helped evacuate their elderly mother from her home that day and understand why she is so upset. They are all worried about whether they can afford the adjustment to life off the grid.

“Did you install the propane?” neighbor Patrick Burt called from across the street.

“I was too afraid of a fire or explosion,” Mrs Twidwell replied. Mr Burt, 74, offered to do it for her.

“This place is like a bomb with all the propane,” he said.

That day, Mr Burt received a quote for a $40,000 (£30,640) solar system. The neighbours were discussing how to split the cost.

They agree that it is worth fixing the Portuguese Bow.

“They can't make you leave. And I'm not going,” said Mr. Burt. “You can't buy atmosphere. You can't buy that anywhere else.”

Ms Twidwell said she was aware that climate change was partly to blame, but was angry at the failures which she said had made the situation worse.

“They should line the canyon” to divert water into the sea so it doesn’t settle beneath their feet, she said.

“Instead, they spent all that money on a sewage system that is now failing.”

Residents like their parents are now scattered around in hotels or with friends.

“They are on their own. And that is frightening for these people who have spent more than half their lives here,” she said.

“They've worked so hard to build this – it's not just a house. It's an extended family. They're going to be completely destroyed at the end of their lives.”