the 2,800 other houses were destroyed by floodwaters, including the home tracy rutter shared with her fiancÉ, rich whalenoing through two feet of water, even to get down the main road. >> rutter and whelen always planned to make a home here in breezy point, to marry here, to raise their daughter here. sandy nearly wiped breezy point off the map. >> because i think everybody needs a little bit of hope to see that we're going to pull through this and we're going to do it one day at a time and we're going to rebuild. >> st. tormas more church is still struggling from sandy. it has no heat. the rutter-whalen wedding was the first since the storm. monsignor michael curran saw it as an omen. >> it's kind of a sign of hope, that the bonds of family life are stronger than any wind or fire or flood. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: those vows were celebrated in breezy point, queens when tracy rutter, e.m.t., married rutter whalen, firefighter, at st. thomas more church. tony guida, cbs news, new york. >> axelrod: and that is the "cbs evening news." later on cbs, "48 hours." for now, i'm jim axelrod, cbs news

married rutter whalen firefighter at st. thomas more church.ew york. >> axelrod: and that is the cbs evening news. later on cbs "48 hours." for now, i'm jim axelrod, cbs news in new york. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org