Having run out of scary things to say about the big story (downpours of rain west and south of the Albany NY area cause massive areas of flooding and road washouts etc), all three local TV news shows did the only reasonable thing: reported the story of the Albany Yacht Club.

The docks and boats of said club rose and were detached from land by the rising level and flow of the Hudson. Some became a flotilla of dock and multiple boats. Some wandered off by themselves. All had to be rounded up and provided a temporary place to secure themselves out of the way of barges etc.

Anyway, all three stations did lengthy stories about this: how the docks broke up and free while people were on them (fairly newsworthy); about how the docks and boats floated together into the hudson (still pretty newsworthy and interesting to see); about what a crisis this is for the yacht owners - where will they dock? will their summer be over before it starts? will the boats end up in dry dock storage due to docks being destroyed? Where will they go? what will they do? (ok, not even interesting)

How much money does it cost to keep a yacht, and keep it at the Albany Yacht Club? How much money does it cost to fill up one of those suckers?

How much money does it cost to clean out a house that has been inundated with water and mud and debris?

OK. TV news has the attention span of a flea and I know that. But, I thought the local stations were doing really well covering a big regional story (good coverage before and during the actual flooding, great indication of how widespread the problems were) and then..... stupid and glamourous wins out again. Oh - you'll take me out in your yacht for a little tour of the raging hudson? Sure thing. Let me get my life jacket and film crew.

WRGB

WTEN (go to their home page for video. No direct link worked)

WNYT (probably the least offensive of the bunch)