By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-22 16:51:47 | Updated at 2024-10-02 08:15:30
1 week ago
Residents in a small California retirement town have been left devastated as landslides continue getting worse.
Homeowners in Rancho Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles - dubbed America's richest retirement town - have been left dealing with struggle after struggle as land movements left areas virtually uninhabitable.
Tom Keefer and his wife Cindy have 'scrambled' as they've been left to survive without power for more than a month, leaving them with a new challenge of struggling to store food properly and depending on ice and propane from a local gas station to keep their lives going.
'We have scrambled. Not only is it stressful emotionally, but it’s stressful financially,' Keefer, 67, told LA Times.
Through all of the hardships the destructive landslides have brought on, Keefer said the city isn't financially assisting the community.
Rancho Palos Verdes, south of Los Angeles , has been dubbed America's richest retirement town, but now residents have been left dealing with struggle after struggle as landslides continue to take over. (pictured: Damage on Dauntless Dr. in Rancho Palos Verdes)
Tom Keefer (pictured) and his wife Cindy have 'scrambled' as their power was cut, leaving them to struggle with how to safely store food, among other issues. He also said residents have been left to cover the costs of everything
'The sad thing is there’s been literally no help, it’s been extraordinary. There’s been no funding.… It’s only through helping each other that we’re making progress,' he told the outlet.
Keefer and his neighbors have been faced with endless road closures, damaged homes, no power, and trying to find a way to store food safely.
Other than being tasked with having to fend for themselves to stay safe in the midst of an ongoing disaster, residents have also been left feeling anxious and angered over the lack of help.
In July, residents, like Keefer, lost access to natural gas, and in the beginning of September, the city shut off power to homeowners who were warned to evacuate amid the land movement.
Concerns over infrastructure breaks and possible wildfires have forced utility companies to shut off access as it's unsafe to continue providing electricity and gas in certain areas across the city.
Additionally, residents, including Keefer, have lost access to the internet and landlines after Cox Communications disconnected service in August.
Sallie Reeves, 81, is also struggling to stay afloat, but hopes that this will attract more attention to save Los Angeles County as it continues to slip toward the ocean.
'It’s scary because it’s bigger than anything anyone imagined,' Reeves told the LA Times.
Reeves and her husband have been managing a life on their Portuguese Bend property, which they've lived in for more than four decades.
Meanwhile, Keefer's wife Cindy, 63, is worried about what future weather could do to the already intense situation.
'Do you know how scared everybody is for the first rain?
'Nothing is being done to prevent a major catastrophe. ... We don’t want sympathy, we want work being done up there — now,' she said.
Gas was cut to 135 homes at the start of August before homeowner's power and water supplies were switched off on September 1.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Rancho Palos Verdes this month following the shutoffs, but did not address financial relief or the reasoning behind the severe damage.
Meanwhile, utility companies have expressed that more shut offs could happen soon and did not specify when they will be restored during the 'fluid situation,' a Southern California Edison (SoCal Edison) spokesperson said.
The coastal community has been blighted by landslides since torrential rain hit the area in spring of last year.
The coastal community has been blighted by landslides since torrential rain hit the area in spring of last year. (pictured: An aerial view of damage in Rancho Palos Verdes)
County Supervisor Janice Hahn has demanded intervention from Governor Gavin Newsom. 'This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging, that one city should not have to bear the burden alone,' she said
Dozens of homes were destroyed by landslides in July last year and floods tore through the area during the storms that hit California in February causing 'considerable land movement' under the homes that survived.
SoCal Edison made the decision to cut the supply after a fire was sparked by a power line that toppled at the end of August, and after 10,000 gallons of sewage spewed from a ruptured tank on Palos Verdes Drive South.
'At this point, land movement has created such a dangerous situation that we must make the difficult decision to disconnect power indefinitely,' spokesman David Eisenhauer previously said.
'We never want to have to turn off power unless we absolutely must. In this case, we absolutely must.
'We have an obligation that's higher than providing electric service, and that obligation is safety.'
But resident Mike Hong said his neighbors were given just an hour's notice that the plug was being pulled.
'They are giving us even less time than the gas company,' he told the LA Times.
'Don't abandon us. Where's the humanity in this?'
More than a quarter of the city's residents are over 65 and some have been ordered to start packing their bags.
The city of 42,000 has a median income of $166,747, and was labeled the country's richest retirement town in a recent survey by CNBC.
Keefer and his neighbors have been faced with endless road closures, damaged homes, no power, and trying to find a way to store food safely
The coastal city of 42,000 has a median income of $166,747, and was labeled the country's richest retirement town in a recent survey by CNBC
But residents say its wealthy reputation has left it ignored by politicians and placed its vulnerable residents at particular risk.
'Everybody must assume that everybody who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes is infinitely wealthy and that is not the case, especially for me,' Craig Cadwallader told CBS News.
'So I literally don't know where I'm going.'
County Supervisor Janice Hahn said she had committed another $5 million in county funds to help with the disaster and repeated her demands for Governor Newsom to step in.
'There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,' she told a news conference.
'We're sparing no expense. This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging, that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.
'You'd figure if this was an earthquake or if it was a fire or a flash flood I feel like we might have got a different response,' Halm said.
