12 homes evacuated in Southern California city after ground shifts

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. — Twelve homes were evacuated in a Los Angeles-area city after a major ground shift put them at risk of collapse, officials said Sunday.

Janice Hahn, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, visited Rolling Hills Estates, a city 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of Los Angeles, Saturday night while the ground was moving. She said she had “never seen anything like” the damage that occurred.

“To think that these homes were intact, you know, yesterday afternoon, and today you can hear the creaking, the cracking, the crumbling,” Hahn said Sunday. “They're going to fall.”

Evacuated homes were at risk of falling into a nearby canyon “sooner than later,” Hahn said.

Outside of those evacuated, some homes had their gas shut off to try to prevent an accident from happening, said Pete Goodrich, a Rolling Hills Estates building official.

Officials did not know yet what may have caused the ground to shift, Goodrich said.

The evacuations come after landslides halted rail service in San Clemente, another Southern California city, earlier this year.