'My dad worked his whole life to buy here': Man gets emotional as RPV home slips away amid landslides
LOS ANGELES - Amidst the wrenching devastation caused by ongoing landslides in Rancho Palos Verdes, local resident Mike Towle was overcome with emotion upon seeing the jeopardy facing his family's home, a residence built on his father's lifetime of savings from his career as a school teacher at Torrance High School.
The Towle family, like many others in the community, is grappling with the sudden reality of displacement and the potential loss of their lifelong investment following accelerated land movement in the area that poses an imminent threat to public safety.
Towle, whose emotions broke through in an interview with FOX 11's Gigi Graciette, shared his family's plight as the ground beneath their beloved homestead continued to fracture.
"I don't know if there's an insurance claim to be had," Towle remarked, the gravity of loss evident in his voice. "My dad worked his whole life to buy here."
The Towle residence stands on a dramatically fractured landscape within the Greater Portuguese Landslide Complex. Southern California Edison has cut off power to certain areas, including 140 homes in Portuguese Bend and 105 residences in the Seaview Community, directly impacting the daily lives of those households.
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Gigi Graciette, reporting from the field, captured the heartache of the situation. "It's your mom. It's your family home. It is enough to make a grown man cry," Graciette said, conveying the pain felt by Towle and his family over the airwaves.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Rancho Palos Verdes on Tuesday, emphasizing the acceleration of land movement as a public safety hazard that has disrupted utilities and initiated evacuation warnings. A significant shift in the land on August 29 caused utility lines to fail and ignited a brush fire, triggering SCE's preventative power shut-off to curtail additional damage and protect the community.
With the land sliding at alarming rates of 9 to 12 inches per week, the emotional and physical toll on families such as the Towles is severe. Los Angeles County has contributed millions of dollars to address the crisis, but the staggering billion-dollar cost to stabilize the land overshadows any immediate resolution for preserving the homes at risk.