Here in Iowa many would have previously said the same thing, but the Derecho a few years ago proved otherwise. Never hurts to be prepared - we now have a generator and a dc-ac converter for my Volt PHEV.
The Derecho destroyed 2/3 of the trees in the affected area. By definition, it was a uniquely bad experience as no future storm could cause that much tree damage (well, in decades if enough regrow.) Planning for a repeat seems like a mistake based on a traumatic experience with an outlier.
Maybe in the hardest hit areas. We did not lose 2/3 by a long shot but were still out for a week. If we experienced those winds again we'd absolutely have similar devastation. Not to mention, disaster preparedness is about flexibility. Tornados, solar flares, cyber attacks on the grid, regional cascading failures... All of these are nice times to have access to secondary power sources. Plus the one in my Volt is obviously super mobile.