Residents do what they can to stay put

2024: roads and homes splitting, cracking and dropping, some beyond repair. Then SoCalGas and Southern California Edison, in July and September last year, indefinitely cut their service to the area.

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BADAME and wife Martha de la Torre rely on a propane generator as a backup.

But with grit, determination and a bigger cash outlay than most expected (and some could afford), the residents of about 120 homes have managed to stay put.

"The inconvenience is worth it," Badame said, taking in the view of the sparkling Pacific, looking past his massive propane tank that sits just off their warped street. "We can't afford a place like this anywhere else."

While a testament to their resilience, "off-grid" is a designation that many hope they can soon shed, especially as the hours of available solar charging dwindle and storms return to threaten their precarious slopes.

"At this point now, it's time to recharge the area," Badame said. "Winter's coming."

Even before most people in this community relied on the sun for energy, they dreaded rain.

Increased rainfall leads to more groundwater, which in this corner of the Palos Verdes Peninsula acts as a catalyst for a complex of slow-moving landslides that have beset the area since the late 1950s and, in the last two years, brought escalating movement after two particularly wet seasons.

One key defense against this process: a network of de-watering wells, which pump out the water that lubricates the soil's clay layers. But the pumps require electricity and residents want them hooked to the grid.

"We're trying to operate these de-watering wells off of propane-powered generators... but it's expensive," Attridge, 78, said. "I've written letters, the city's written letters, but it's kind of fallen on deaf ears."

Local officials say generators struggle to run for long durations and frequently break down, meaning many of the pumps have been operating on a limited schedule.