WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush will cut short his vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch and return to Washington two days ahead of schedule to help monitor federal relief efforts in the hurricane-struck areas, the White House said Tuesday.

    Previously Bush was to return to the capital on Friday after vacationing at Crawford for more than four weeks, but he decided that he needed to be in Washington to personally monitor the relief efforts after he was briefed Tuesday morning on the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

    Bush was in San Diego, California, on Tuesday to attend an event commemorating the Allies' World War II victory over Japan. "This morning, our hearts and prayers are with our fellow citizens along the Gulf Coast," Bush said in his speech.

    "We know that many are anxious to return to their homes. It's not possible at this moment," he said.

    "We have got a lot of work to do," said Bush, who was flying back to Texas for the night at his ranch later Tuesday.

    Katrina made a landfall on the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, claiming at least 55 lives and leaving more than 1 million people without power. Bush declared major disasters in the three states on Monday, a move that makes federal rescue and recovery efforts available for these states.

    Katrina hit southern Florida last Thursday, causing 11 deaths and an outage of over 1 million people in the southeastern state. Enditem