For 49 years, the Twidwell family enjoyed idyllic living in the Portuguese Bend area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The marine layer that engulfed the rest of the peninsula stayed clear of their neighborhood so the weather was always sunny. Shari Twidwell’s two best friends were also her neighbors: bikes in each other’s front yards, in and out of each other’s homes with three sets of parents.
But, in the last two years, above average rainfall has led to unprecedented land movement, breaking up the neighborhood and relationships that have spanned decades.
Since last October, movement of the Portuguese Bend landslide complex has been dramatic. Twidwell said when they first moved into the neighborhood 51 years ago, land in the area was moving at 2 millimeters a year. Now, city officials say it’s shifting at 1 foot a week in some places, slowly tearing apart homes, roads, and other infrastructure.