Gays Mills receives $4.4 million moving grant

A view of Gays Mills on Aug. 20, 2007, after the Kickapoo River overran its banks and flooded the village. Gays Mills is getting $4.4 million this week to help revive the community. (AP File Photo/Andy Manis)

GAYS MILLS, Wis. (AP) — The village of Gays Mills is receiving $4.4 million this week from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help reinvent itself after being devastated by floods.

Floods in 2007 and 2008 caused planners in the rural Crawford County community to relocate its business district and residents out of the Kickapoo River flood plain.

Village recovery coordinator Julie Henley told The La Crosse Tribune that the money is “absolutely critical” to fulfill the planning work done for the project.

Henley said much of the new groundbreaking will begin in August and September, but that the first residents are expected to move into new townhouses in June or July.

Information from: La Crosse Tribune, http://www.lacrossetribune.com