California officials waiting for 12 homes to fall into canyon after massive landslide

Officials in Los Angeles County on Tuesday said there is nothing left to do but wait for a dozen homes that were evacuated over the weekend because of landslides to crash down into a canyon below.

Twelve homes in Rolling Hills Estates on Peartree Lane have been red-tagged and eight homes were destroyed as the ground underneath continues to slide away, FOX LA reported. Ten homes were “actively” moving, the LA County Fire Department said. 

Rolling Hills Estates city officials are expected to meet Tuesday night to declare a state of emergency.

Fire officials responded to a home on Peartree Lane over a report of a residential water leak around 4 p.m. Saturday. Responding crews noticed cracks and structural damage both inside and outside the home, prompting further investigation, according to Craig Little with the LA County Fire Department. 

Some residents said they heard cracks underneath their homes as early as last Thursday. 

“[I] was taken on a brief tour looking at the fissure that was winding its way through these 12 homes and even in the 45 minutes I was here, the land continued to move, in my opinion, very quickly,” LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn explained during a weekend news conference. “Since I was here last night, I’ve been told the land has moved about six feet.”

Officials said the land movement was possibly being caused by excessive rainfall or an underlying issue. The site has not yet been examined by a geologist. 

As of Tuesday, 16 residents have been displaced, the city said. The county Assessor’s officer said it would support the impacted resident by reassessing their property values and lowering or eliminating their property tax.