WILSON — What might have been a rough day for many students in Wilson turned out to be not bad at all as students returned to school Monday. The community had pitched in to fix up what Saturday's storm tore up, and students hardly missed a beat.

Saturday, a tornado tore part of the roof off Vinson Bynum Elementary School in Wilson. Three adults who were attending a meeting of The Order of the Eastern Star were slightly injured. Seven classrooms were damaged.

The tornado was part of a fierce but relatively brief band of storms that traveled across the state Saturday morning.

More than 50 people came out Sunday to clean up and cover the damaged area with tarps.

For some third-graders, school will be somewhat different, but will go on in different classrooms and on other schedules. Teacher June Hackney says the students are taking the changes in stride, but are asking a lot of questions.

Hackney says, except for some minor inconveniences, it's business as usual at the school.

Bynum's principal said he couldn't be more appreciative of the volunteers who helped get things cleaned up. Parents and teachers joined with members of the school board to see that the school was ready to open Monday.

School officials say the damaged portion of the school will not be safe for students for three or four weeks. School will be out for the summer in about a month, so students will probably not see the refurbished wing until September.