SoCalGas begins restoring service in Rancho Palos Verdes neighborhood impacted by landslide

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (KABC) -- People living in the Seaview neighborhood of Rancho Palos Verdes have been dealing with gas and power outages since the land started to shift last year.

On Tuesday, SoCalGas representatives began going door to door, asking residents if they'd like their gas service restored. Crews were working to restore service to 22 homes.

"We're extremely thankful for residents here for being so patient throughout this whole situation with the land movement and the gas shutoffs. And we're really excited today to be here, to be starting the initial work to be able to reconnect some of these homes in Seaview," said Brian Haas, the spokesperson with SoCalGas. "We're starting off with 22 homes, and then the hope is that after those 22 homes are restored, we'll be able to move on to Portuguese Bend Beach Club."

The ongoing slow-moving landslide in Rancho Palos Verdes has affected hundreds of homes. SoCalGas says the accelerating ground movement in 2024 caused significant damage to utility infrastructure and nearby homes, prompting the company to shut off natural gas service in several areas.

Roughly 200 homes have been without gas since last summer. But as of October, the land in the area has stabilized, allowing SoCalGas to begin the restoration process.

"There's some 200 homes total that had to be disconnected, but there's about 100 or so homes between Seaview, Portuguese Bend Beach Club, and the city of Rolling Hills that we're hoping to get reconnected here in the next couple weeks," Haas said. "The good news is the land movement has not moved since October in this neighborhood. They're going out and marking the utilities, so that when we do our infrastructure work, we're not disrupting water lines, stuff like that."

Not all homes will be reconnected immediately. Homes that remain yellow or red-tagged will not have service restored at this time.

SoCalGas says starting Thursday, they will begin installing new gas infrastructure. Residents can expect full gas restoration within four to five weeks.

"We will be doing our infrastructure work, which we'll be doing the upgrades to make sure the system is a little more resilient for potential land movement as well," Haas said.