I don't own a generator (yet) and have actually been talked out of one by my electrican who points out since we have underground wiring it may be overkill... " we have not lost power in this area for more than 2 hours in his lifetime" He is looking at it from a past performance point of view and not a preparedness view obviously.
I don't yet own a generator, but it's definitely on my list. Still, from this comment, I can't fathom taking this advice. When I worked in Eden Prairie, MN. there were day+ long power outages at work due to construction guys cutting the line. And many times they scheduled digs on Thurs. or Friday and were down all weekend and residential customers were also affected. This happened on a nearly weekly basis for months. I have also experienced the results of many back hoes going through water, power, and even a gas line once (complete evac of the area).
Underground power can and has been broken. From anecdotal evidence it's also difficult to repair, especially in bad weather. And unless it's buried from generation plant to your house there's still a large chance that weather/above ground accidents could take out the juice somewhere up the line, so when 70k people are out, you probably will be too.
The recent ice storms in the midwest and the mass of ice coating the local trees have me pricing generators now....
Don't let anyone talk you out of a prudent preparedness item because it hasn't happened in their lifetime. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I'd say that goes for just about any emergency/survival item.
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