ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. (KABC) — Rolling Hills Estates officials are expected to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday as the investigation continues into the cause of a slow-moving landslide that has resulted in a dozen homes being deemed uninhabitable.
Ten of those red-tagged houses on Peartee Lane were actively moving, gradually collapsing into the canyon below, officials said.
The land began noticeably shifting on Saturday, resulting in the urgent evacuation of residents. No injuries were reported.
Los Angeles County Fire Department officials on Tuesday were monitoring more than a dozen other homes in the area.
An estimate of the cost of the catastrophic damage was still being calculated.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes the scene of the landslide, said the region’s wet winter may be to blame. Hahn also said that the local homeowners association can bring in a geologist to assess the situation after the movement of the houses stops.
“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,” she said.
Some neighbors have speculated that the landslide was possibly due to a significant water leak, noting that one resident had recently received a water bill of about $1,000.
Homeowners who have lost their homes to the disaster are concerned about whether insurance will cover the losses.
“We are in a pretty affluent area,” said Weber Yen, whose house was destroyed. “Most of us are either Asians or old people, so we don’t raise voices. I wish these authorities — county officials and state authorities — would know that, look, this is a drastic loss.”
At a news conference on Monday, County Assessor Jeff Prang pointed to the home behind him and said it had been deemed a total loss.
“The land that was beneath them is now going to be a hillside,” Prang said. “So when we’re done valuing this property, they will have nominal value. And as a result, the property owners are entitled to property tax relief.”
City News Service contributed to this report.