christine sloan of our new york station wcbs-tv reports. >> reporter: governor chris christie and themar cutting a ribbon to open brand-new boardwalk less than seven months after hurricane sandy ripped through this jersey shore town, tearing apart the boardwalk and leaving behind piles of debris. >> look how far we've come. okay. that whole time -- >> reporter: carol brandy who was interviewed by cbs 2 news as she evacuated during sandy and the hundreds that came to the beach today for the big celebration including students have come a long way. >> i live in belmar and i survived hurricane sandy, so i'm so excite thad the boardwalk's open. >> reporter: this was the first shore town the republican governor visited after the storm's wrath. he and the mayor, a democrat, promised each other they would do all they could to have this boardwalk complete by memorial day weekend. >> the biggest reason that i want to come and open these boardwalk is because i want new jersey and the region and the country to know that new jersey has come back. >> we had a tremendous amount of water in town. you