It sounded like trees and dirt coming down the hill,' Cynthia Schmid told KOMO-TV. 'It sounded like thunder, but you could hear trees. Police urged residents to leave their homes along a stretch of Queets Avenue at the base of Beacon Hill because of the danger that the whole bluff could give way, Police Chief Jeff Myers said. Rosoff reports that firefighters had to rescue a woman in her 80s and her dog - trapped after their home slid down a hill.