It was the work of a lifetime. Power here has been so reliable that people forget that it can fail, and even though he was somewhat prepared it turned out not to be enough.

Agreed though that it was a ticking time bomb. As for better backup plans: even autostart generators for data centers can fail when you need them most. Backup plans end up with more and more layers until you think you've got it all and then some little oversight will get you. In his case he probably could have done more but that's only because we're looking at it after the failure, for decades it worked.

Most people in cities in the US have never experienced a power failure that lasts longer than an hour or so (and many places have NEVER had one). It's understandable that people don't think much about it.

Though the moment the UPSs hit 50% you might try to run to Home Depot and grab a generator, but by that time they'd all be sold out.