ATLANTA -- Blue tarps may be the new symbol of Atlanta.

SLIDESHOWS: Aerials Of Damage From News Chopper 2 | Polk County Damage

Hundreds of them spread out Monday over the roofs of homes and businesses damaged by Friday's tornado and high winds.

Tell Us Your Storm Stories

Tell Us About Your Monday Morning Commute

In southeast Atlanta, near Oakland Cemetery a sea of blue could be seen from News Chopper 2.

Homeowners are hoping they will prevent further damage if rain begins falling later this week. Volunteers organized by Hands On Atlanta fanned out through the neighborhood Monday helping with the clean up.

Several landmarks, including the Georgia World Congress Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Equitable Building, were in the six-mile path of the storm, which moved along the Atlanta skyline for about 20 minutes. The city's main convention center and two major hotels were hobbled as the convention season began.

This weekend alone, with the closing of the Georgia World Congress Center -- a 3.9 million square-foot convention center -- the city lost the Atlanta Home Show and a dental convention. And the Georgia Dome lost much of the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament.

The games were moved to north of downtown to Georgia Tech's much smaller gym on Saturday, preventing many fans from attending because of space constraints. The SEC is making plans to give refunds to fans unable to get into the tournament games, according to a statement on the conference's Web site. The plan could cost the conference about $1.8 million in revenue.

Dan Graveline, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said on a walking tour with reporters and Gov. Sonny Perdue that it was still too early to quantify the damage, but added that crews were working to assess the wreckage. Graveline said he was hopeful repairs would begin soon, starting with the areas that could be fixed most quickly.

The tornado ripped through the roof of an exhibition hall in one building, leaving light fixtures, awnings, and pieces of the building's infrastructure dangling and exposed as workers continued to clear the scattered insulation, metal, glass and other debris littering the facility.

But the damage that's beyond the naked eye is also a concern, Graveline said.

"The critical part is what you can't see," he said. "That takes some time."

During the news conference, Perdue also expressed relief and gratitude for the minimal loss of life and quick response of emergency workers.

"You already see people working," Perdue said. "This resource will be restored as quickly as possible."

Hotel officials said they were more worried about getting the Georgia World Congress Center back into shape as a conference venue than the state of their facilities, most of which sustained minor damage in comparison.

"All the major hotels downtown rely on the Congress Center as part of the package of bringing conventions to the city," said Ed Walls, general manager of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, which was damaged by the tornado.

Walls estimated that about 30 percent of the hotel's business came from events related to the facility, and that the first four months are among the busiest of the year for conventions in Atlanta.

Mike Sullivan, marketing director of The Omni Hotel at CNN Center, said hotel and convention center officials were expected to meet Monday to discuss their post-tornado options. If the Georgia World Congress Center is unable to host trade shows and meetings, the city's biggest hotels may have to host large conferences that normally would have been held at the convention center.

"Hotels really are working hard together to try to keep people here," Sullivan said.