I'm going to check it out again and see if I can get an estimate for a better number during the winter. But, in the end, I may have to just finance it and put down as much as I can. With the number of smaller storms we are getting that still knock out electricity for a few days to a week, it's almost become a necessity. Especially since they aren't really calling for evacuations anymore and businesses are staying open until the last minute making it hard to even consider evacuating. Especially for less powerful storms. My office technically never closed for Francine, we just allowed work from home on the day of the storm.
I thought about a small gas generator but then you have to either store massive amount of gas or try to get more gas after the storm has passed which is difficult at best. Not to mention the fact that they are dangerous and have to be shutdown often.