Power has been shut off to homes on a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes, a coastal area 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, as landslides worsen. The expanding landslide now covers 680 acres, threatening multimillion-dollar homes and prompting evacuation warnings for over 100 residences, officials said.
Southern California Edison (SCE) has already cut power to 140 homes, with another 105 expected to lose electricity by Monday night as the shifting ground poses a threat to utility lines.
“SCE has identified a public safety threat,” the utility company said, announcing that electricity service would be discontinued in the affected zones starting Sunday, September 1, at 12 PM. They warned residents not to use water or plumbing after the power is cut, as this could result in a sewer spill.

‘This situation is unprecedented’
“This situation is unprecedented,” said Rancho Palos Verdes City Council member Barbara Ferraro on Sunday. “We are unsure how to proceed.”
City officials reported that homes, roads, and infrastructure have already been damaged by the landslide, which has accelerated since heavy rains in the spring of 2023.
County allocates $5 million
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced a $5 million allocation to address the disaster, noting the severity of the land movement.
Hahn urges governor to declare state of emergency
Hahn has urged Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency, highlighting the unprecedented acceleration of the landslide and the need for a greater state and federal response.
On Monday, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said it is working with emergency officials in Los Angeles County. “The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in ongoing communication with the City, County, and FEMA regarding the evolving situation in Rancho Palos Verdes,” the agency said in a statement.
Infrastructure damage and safety concerns
Officials reported that the shifting land has caused leaks in water and gas lines, with at least two homes declared uninhabitable. Earlier this month, the landslide caused a 10,000-gallon sewer spill. A fire last week, sparked by a downed power line due to shifting land, highlights the dangers in the area, according to Southern California Edison spokesperson Kathleen Dunleavy.
The landslide, which has intensified with some areas shifting up to 10 inches a week, has led to increased patrols and drone surveillance by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to prevent looting. Sheriff Robert Luna warned, “Anyone caught stealing will be arrested.”
Rancho Palos Verdes has been under a local state of emergency since October 2023, with natural gas shut off in the Portuguese Bend area on July 29. The slow-moving landslide, part of an ancient complex activated by a 1956 road expansion, is one of the largest active landslides in the US, shifting homes by hundreds of feet and costing the city about $1 million annually for road repairs.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

France is starting up its first newly built nuclear reactor in a quarter of a century, 12 years behind schedule and after multiple setbacks as the industry looks to a revival with plans for more new plants. 

EDF, the French state-owned operator of Europe’s biggest fleet of nuclear power stations, said late on Monday that the first chain reactions — or so-called divergence operations — at the Flamanville 3 reactor on France’s Normandy coast were due to get under way overnight.

If these are successful the reactor will eventually be connected to the grid before the end of the year, once it has reached 25 per cent of its total 1.65 gigawatt capacity — enough to power a large city. 

The reactor, France’s 57th and a prototype of models EDF wants to develop at home and overseas, had come to epitomise the reversals the nuclear industry was suffering globally in the wake of a downturn in orders over recent decades, which prompted skilled workers to leave the sector. 

Flamanville ended up costing more than four times its initial budget at €13.2bn, and took longer to finish than similar models EDF built in China and Finland that were also hit by delays. 

Components for the complex design had to be retooled, some after complaints from safety regulators. EDF was also criticised by the French government for how it struggled to co-ordinate the project that involved hundreds of suppliers. 

“It’s a historic step in this project,” Régis Clement, co-head of EDF’s nuclear production division, said of the launch. “Our teams are on the starting blocks.”

EDF, which has contracts to build new reactors in Britain and is tendering to export its design elsewhere, said it had learned valuable lessons from Flamanville 3 that will allow it to whittle down construction times in future. 

But it still faces a series of hurdles at home despite French President Emmanuel Macron launching a plan to build at least six new reactors.

The orders have yet to be formalised, and a political impasse in Paris may only delay the process further, after legislative elections this summer delivered a hung parliament. 

EDF, which is spending money filling thousands of new positions to prepare for the orders, needs to agree on a funding plan for the projects, which could cost over €52bn.

Hopes of reaching a deal by the end of the year are fading, several people close to the company said. An initial ambition to deliver the new reactors by 2037 seems optimistic as a result, they added.

Other challenges include improving design updates for the future reactors while training a range of staff from engineers to welders will take time. 

EDF also faces competition overseas from other players, such as South Korean rivals, amid a worldwide revival of nuclear technology.

Though valued for its low carbon emissions, nuclear power has faced an atmosphere of distrust after the Chernobyl accident of 1986 and the Fukushima meltdown in Japan following a tsunami in 2011.

This story is part of the My Unsung Hero series, from the Hidden Brain team. It features stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. 

In January 2021, Leahruth Jemilo and three friends decided to book a weekend getaway. Jemilo was having a tough week at work, and by the Friday before the trip, she didn’t know if she could go.

“My tank was completely empty,” Jemilo said. She called her friends to cancel.

“I was crying to them saying, ‘I’m so anxious. I’m just exhausted from the week. I just don’t think that I even have the energy to get in the car,’” she remembered.

“And they said, ‘Do it, just get in the car.’ So I listened to my girlfriends, got in the car and started driving.”

As she drove down the highway, Jemilo started to cry. She put on her sunglasses to hide her tears, and pulled up to a toll booth at the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge. Then she noticed her toll collector.

“She had these really beautiful, very bright purple long braids in her hair, and was wearing these incredible, really long purple feather earrings,” Jemilo recalled.

The worker said hello, and asked Jemilo how she as doing.

“And I immediately burst into tears and I said, ‘I am actually not good. I am really not good.’”

Jemilo took off her sunglasses and tears streamed down her face. Then the toll collector said something to her that she won’t forget.

“She looked at me and her eyes were so kind. And she pointed her finger at me and she said, ‘Listen, I got you, girl. You’re going to be in my prayers. And everything is going to be OK,’” Jemilo said.

“My tears actually dried up when she said that. And I felt lighter in that moment.”

Jemilo thanked the woman, paid the toll and went on her way. Then she found herself crying again — this time with tears of happiness.

“Her simple act of kindness in response to what is typically a very simple question … was incredibly meaningful to me in that moment,” Jemilo said.

“It was amazing to me that she showed that kind of kindness to a stranger who just happened to be driving through her part of the tollbooth.”

My Unsung Hero is also a podcast — new episodes are released every Tuesday. To share the story of your unsung hero with the Hidden Brain team, record a voice memo on your phone and send it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.