San Francisco Landslide Displaces 150

About 150 residents in the North Beach neighborhood were evacuated and several buildings declared off-limits Tuesday after a landslide partly buried apartment buildings and a strip club in a shower of rocks and dirt.

The hillside thundered down shortly after 3 a.m., closing a main thoroughfare through the city for several hours but causing no injuries, authorities said.

"I thought it was an earthquake," said Steve Liu, 29, an evacuee who heard a loud boom as he watched television.

The Broadway Showgirls Cabaret had just closed for the night when the slide pushed in the back wall and apparently broke a water main that flooded the club, said Gary Marlin, whose company manages the club.

"Fortunately, everyone had just left," Marlin said.

The slide deposited up to 30 feet of mud and boulders against buildings at the bottom of the hill and left one 45-unit apartment building perched on the brink of the cliff.

Six buildings, including the club, were red-tagged by building inspectors, meaning no one can go inside. Several other buildings were yellow-tagged, which allows residents to retrieve belongings but not to stay.

The American Red Cross set up a shelter for residents evacuated from 80 apartments.

The extent of damage and the cause of the slide were not immediately known, but officials said recent rains may have been a factor. More than a half-inch of rain fell on the city since Monday, according to the National Weather Service. More showers were predicted Tuesday.

Department of Public Works Deputy Director Mohammed Nuru described the hill as "super-saturated."