Rolling Hills Estates residents helpless as homes crumble

The cause of a landslide responsible for the destruction of several homes in Rolling Hills Estates remains a mystery Tuesday, but there are suspicions the heavy rains over the winter are a major contributor.

Nearly a dozen upscale homes in the Palos Verdes Peninsula community continued crumbling down hillsides, a result of a massive landslide that began over the weekend and forced the evacuation of the structures, while county officials huddled with residents to offer support, tax relief and information about next steps for the neighborhood.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn returned to the neighborhood for the third day in a row Monday, and she met with affected residents, joined by county Assessor Jeff Prang, Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Britt Huff and other officials to discuss the still-unfolding situation and their financial options.

Residents on Peartree Lane noticed the land shift Saturday afternoon, and they were evacuated shortly afterward. Twelve homes were red-tagged, meaning they cannot be occupied, although only 10 of them appeared to be actively moving.

County fire officials were closely monitoring 16 other homes in the area to ensure they did not being shifting. County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone said officials were in particular watching two homes — one at the top of the street and the other at the bottom — and were in close contact with those homeowners, who have not been told to evacuate.

Hahn noted Monday after that the “land has moved 20 feet since I was here in Rolling Hills Estates yesterday afternoon.”

“Homes have completely fallen into the canyon now,” she wrote on her Twitter page.

Homeowners have been left to basically stand back and watch their houses collapse on themselves and sink into the turf. Hahn noted that some rooftops were now at ground level due to the continued collapse.

The homes were largely considered complete losses, Hahn said.

Prang said his office will be expediting the process of re-assessing the affected properties to prevent any of the owners from receiving hefty tax bills for destroyed homes.

“In a tragedy like this, people have experienced all types of hardships that you don’t really think about,” Prang said. “One of them is paying taxes on houses or a piece of land that no longer exist. We just need to make sure that we do everything we can do to relieve them of any burdens, especially this financial burden, as quickly as possible. So I’m here to work with the city and county and everyone else to make sure we provide that relief to these residents.”

Prang said the county would not provide a blanket waiver of property taxes, but he said the re-assessing of the properties would result in them having either no or dramatically reduced tax bills due to the damage.

Meanwhile, Marrone said fire crews are basically in a holding pattern, simply waiting for the homes to stop sliding or shifting.

“We don’t know how long that these homes are going to continue to move,” he said. “At this time it’s just a holding pattern we’re in waiting to see what the final determination is going to be.”

The cause of the landslide remains a mystery. Hahn said that after the homes stop sliding, the homeowners association in the area can bring in geologists and soil experts to examine the area.

“We think after it’s all settled, a good geologist and soil expert maybe will give us a clue about how this happened and if there’s any way of preventing it from happening on some other hillside,” Hahn said.

Electricity in the area was turned off Saturday and utility crews made sure no gas or power lines were disrupted, authorities said.

The American Red Cross was helping to find shelter for the evacuated families. Huff said the Red Cross offered hotel vouchers to displaced residents, but most had already made other arrangements.

She said Thursday’s meeting for homeowners was a change for them “to come together and have their questions answered in terms of what the next step would be.”

There have been no reports of any injuries.

Hahn said she reached out to Gov. Gavin Newsom Monday but had not yet spoken to him about the situation. She said she would like to invite him to tour the neighborhood.

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