SOURCE: Kane County Mitigation Plan.

A Chicago Tribune infographic from Aug. 28, 1990, is included in Kane County’s Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, and the headline says it all: “A Trail of Death and Destruction.”

That’s what it was, when tornadoes ripped through Will County. In Plainfield, 55 homes destroyed. In Peerless Estates, 75 home destroyed. In Lily Cache, 55 homes destroyed. Crystal Lawns, 69 homes destroyed. Plainfield High School, Grand Prairie Elementary School, St. Mary Immaculate grade school, church, rectory and convent destroyed. The final death toll was 27. Damages totaled $165 million.

Thirteen years later, Kane County adopted a plan to deal with high-magnitude emergencies — the mitigation plan that was hailed as one of the first of its kind in the state of Illinois.

Now, the Kane County Natural Hazards Mitigation Planning Committee has completed the 2014 update to its plan and will unveil it Thursday at a public meeting.

This is the second five-year update to the original plan, which was developed after a nine-month effort that reviewed the major hazards to which Kane County is exposed: floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, thunderstorms and winter/ice storms.

The updated report includes a variety of measures that can reduce exposure to the dangers and damage posed by the hazards and names selected action items to be implemented by the county and municipal governments.

The plan, including an executive summary, is available for review on the county’s website.

A public meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, in the First Floor Auditorium at the Kane County Government Center, Geneva, Building A.

Comments may be submitted at the public meeting or to Scott Hajek, Department of Environmental & Water Resources, 719 Batavia Avenue, Building A, Geneva, IL, 60134. Hajek also can be reached at 630/232-3496 and HajekScott@co.kane.il.us

The Mitigation Planning Committee will meet after the public meeting, review any desired changes, and finalize the update to the mitigation plan for adoption by the County Board and the individual city councils and village boards.