My small rual Texas town got power from a company at the gulf coast. Last hurricane to hit Texas knocked them out. We were out of electricity for over a week. Power was workings out of town a 1/2 mile away. Getting the plant back up and wiring up took that long. We are no longer using that company. In town you buy electricity from the city. Nat gas we get from our own provider. Most of Texas is not on the national grid. We have a separate grid, mostly. And they like it that way. I have always kept a non efi something on hand. Still have a truck but it has HEI ignition in it. But I have spare parts and a whole distributor and alternator too. Old time survival thought was to do that, and even went so far as to recommend a gm truck because of the large number of downer cars available. sent from inside the fire tornado
Always think in terms of back-up plans. When I bought my generator, i heard nothing but "what a waste of money" "we will never use that thing" and "it just takes up room in the shed!" but it has saved our freezer food @6 times now, and the neighbors have all ended up here, because we were the only ones with heat once, and another time air conditioning. I now have two generators.
Sound like you need a fence with a nice strong gate. Unless your neighbors are good friends who bring additional supplies.
They bring ALL their cold food, beer, and gas for the generator. Plus one of them is a damn good Italian cook.
