The land movement, explained like a neighbor
What it is. The southern slope of the Peninsula sits on ancient landslide terrain — layers of slippery volcanic ash within the rock, tilted toward the sea. The Portuguese Bend section reactivated in 1956 during county road construction and has crept ever since. It is the largest continuously moving urban landslide in North America, and it is the defining fact of life for the neighborhoods above it.
What changed. Two historically wet winters in 2023 and 2024 soaked the slide planes, and movement accelerated from inches per year to — in the worst sections — several feet per month. The consequences came fast: buckled sections of Palos Verdes Drive South, broken utilities and shutoffs in parts of Portuguese Bend and Seaview, the closure and careful dismantling of Wayfarers Chapel, federal disaster assistance, and voluntary FEMA-funded buyouts for the hardest-hit properties.
What's working. Rancho Palos Verdes drilled a network of deep dewatering wells to pump water off the slide planes — more than 500 million gallons removed since fall 2024 — and the results are real. Per the city's August 2026 survey (as tracked at pvlandslide.com), average movement in the still-active areas fell to 0.99 inches per week — under an inch for the first time since October 2023 — with the Portuguese Bend slide itself down 92% from its peak. That milestone matters practically: it puts the complex-wide average below SCE's stated threshold for discussing re-energization — though the caveats matter. Abalone Cove was still moving 1.29 inches per week in August, above that line, and SCE's criterion is movement near its own infrastructure, not the complex-wide average. Seaview and the Portuguese Bend Beach Club already have power restored; the Portuguese Bend Community Association area is the neighborhood still on solar and generators. Twenty-seven homes have accepted FEMA-backed voluntary buyouts so far, with a third round awaiting federal decision, and winterization work continues each fall.
What it means for residents and buyers. The active zone is a defined area — most of RPV, and the vast majority of the Peninsula, sits on stable ground. But near the south coast, geology is the first question, not the last: moratorium zones, insurance, lending, and disclosure all turn on it. Get the geotechnical report, and get local advice that has walked the parcel.
NASA airborne radar mapping of slide velocities, fall 2024 · NASA Earth Observatory, public domain
Follow the data
For depth, pvlandslide.com is the independent hub for the whole story — dated updates, maps & survey data, a resident & homeowner guide to every assistance program, and a tracker of every peninsula landslide so no event gets confused with another. Official source: RPV's land-movement portal.
Need the full landslide picture?
This page is the summary. For the running record — dated movement data, meeting recaps, official reports, utility status, buyout programs, and a guide to every resource available to affected residents — go to the Hill's dedicated, independent landslide hub.