CRAWFORD, Dec 30: President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were moved to an armoured vehicle on their ranch when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said.

The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch on Friday, and the president, Mrs Bush and their two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. They were never moved into the shelter, he said. The shelter is a few hundred meters away from the president’s house on the ranch.

“He was in the vehicle for about 10 minutes and then he went back to the house,” Stanzel said, adding that other members of the staff at the ranch were sheltered as well.

The rush to the tornado shelter interrupted Bush’s day at the ranch where he cleared some cedar and was kept abreast of plans to execute Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The windy day of rain and thunder began with morning calls to wish him a happy new year from outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Tornadoes sweeping across Texas killed one person, sent at least a dozen people to the hospital and caused widespread damage in rural counties, officials said.—AP