As land continues to shift beneath neighborhoods near the beachfront bluffs of Rancho Palos Verdes, 54 more homes will have their power cut off.
Southern California Edison’s announcement comes as nearly 170 other homes in the area are already without power, some for an indefinite period. That includes about 140 homes in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood, which have had their electricity and gas supplies cut off for safety reasons.
Power will be cut off to all 54 homes in the Lower Portuguese Bend Club neighborhood starting at 6 p.m. Monday.
At a Rancho Palos Verdes City Council meeting earlier this week, Edison officials said they were monitoring ground movements to decide whether power outages were necessary.
And some area residents will be without cable TV and internet, as Cox Communications announced it will cut off service to 146 customers of the Portuguese Bend Community Assn. starting Monday.
Cox Communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recently, the region’s terrain has been moving at an unprecedented rate: up to 30 centimetres per week. This has created increasing challenges for residents, first responders, municipal officials and utilities as infrastructure damage and safety concerns mount.
Late last month, a small fire broke out in Portuguese Bend after a downed power line ignited surrounding vegetation. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the incident demonstrated the perilous state of the situation, David Eisenhauer, a spokesman for SoCal Edison, said at the time.
Some residents in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood ignored an evacuation warning and stayed home.
As of 3 p.m. Friday, SoCalGas cut off service to 29 homes in the west Seaview neighborhood and 25 homes in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club area.
The utility said the decision followed a sudden gas line rupture on Exultant Drive in Seaview on Aug. 30, as well as information from new geological hazard studies.
By Saturday, Edison had restored power to at least 75 homes in Seaview. Thirty homes in the neighborhood were still without power for an indefinite period.
The city has made charging stations available for cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices at the Ladera Linda Community Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. City officials are also coordinating with cell phone providers to bring temporary cellular facilities to the area.
Residents who wish to install a temporary backup generator must apply for a permit and submit plans.
