The federal government plans to give Rancho Palos Verdes $42 million to finance buyouts for the homeowners hardest hit by the ongoing landslides in the Portuguese Bend area, with the properties eventually converted into lower-risk open space. … The announcement of the buyout program follows some of the first positive news in months about the landslide. City officials reported this month that the rate of land movement had decelerated as much as 80% in some locations compared with the month prior, primarily due to new, deep dewatering wells that the city installed from August to October. The wells have pumped out millions of gallons of groundwater that drives the area’s landslide movement.

Related article:

• The Associated Press: Residents of landslide-stricken city in California offered $42M in buyout program
• University of Texas, Austin: News release: ‘Giant Lab Experiment’ leads to new model for predicting landslides