GREENE – Traffic came to a halt thursday as a result of flooding on state Highway 12 in the Town of Greene, just north of the village line.

Motorists were given little warning before a drainage culvert along the west side of highway was over burdened with runoff from higher elevations.

According to a NY State Department of Transportation District 9 Public information Officer David Hamburg, the immediate area saw nearly three inches of rain in less than one hour, this was a very atypical event.

Gravel silt and stone were deposited across Route 12 from west to east, and DOT workers from the Oxford garage were dispatched with heavy machinery to clear the roadway, making it passable.