Putting a generator in a gas station isn't just a matter of hauling it in and dumping it off a truck. There are a number of rather complex building code and safety requirements in most places that make it extremely expensive, especially for places where it's unlikely to be used more often than once in a hundred years - if ever.

And as soon as you turn it on for the necessary maintenance and testing that must be done periodically, the neigbors will start a petition to shut you down because they don't like the noise.

Gasoline or diesel fuel can be pumped manually, but because both are controlled to fairly specific vapor pressure ranges they evaporate components needed for efficient ignition and burning if stored in open, or sometimes even in "vented" containers, and while an individual farmer can use a tin can on a short stand, with a hand transfer pump - because only small quantities are needed - a typical station can't get by with any really practical manual pumping system and opening the tank to insert an available kind of manual pump will quickly degrade what's left in the tank by evaporation and oxidation.

You can't siphon uphill, and it's been about 50 years since I've seen an above ground storage tank at a station.

Even trucking in more fuel is problematic, (assuming a way to pump it) since the existing fleet of tankers is generally all in regular use, and diverting them elsewhere would just cause shortages in the places where they were being used. Usage could be increased by using double crews to reduce idle time, but tractors with sleeper cabs are ill-equipped for towing tank trailers (and may face regulatory barriers) and there are no drivers to put in expanded crews, since tanker drivers must be "HazMat" certified, which eliminates around 80% (rough estimate) of all the available truck drivers. (And putting two truckers in the same cab requires finding them in pairs who won't kill each other over politics - and other mystical beliefs.)

Fuel shipments outside normal routings also face the problem that there's nothing to use as a go-back load. It costs 60% to 80% as much to drive a mile in a typical truck without a load as to drive the same mile with one, but the driver only gets paid for the miles with the load. Most cargo haulers rely very much on an efficient dispatcher to find them a load to pick up within a few miles of each drop off point, so they don't have to pay for dead-head miles out of their own pocket, but there's nothing that a tanker can take back toward home. (Even if there was something to carry, there are so few competent dispatchers that they'd never be able to handle any unusual event.)

In many disasters, fresh water is about as much a problem as the gasoline, but there are almost no tank trailers that can be certified for potable water, so the need is met by diverting "reefer" trailers to haul ICE. Diversion means that the reefer that took water (as ice) to Louisiana didn't take fresh or frozen beef from Kansas City or Chicago to Quebec. (The same problem with the dead-head home is present for ice haulers, since it's not legal to carry frozen people who'd like to get out of a disaster area.)

Even gnu's answer for individuals of having his own generator and sufficient fuel is not possible in most places due to local codes on storage of fuels in residential areas. Propane is probably the best fuel for a fixed aux generator, but the requirement that a large enough propane tank be 100 feet from an occupied dwelling rules it out since most city lots don't have 100 feet of space on any side of the dwelling (that wouldn't be within 100 feet of the neighbor's house). It's also ILLEGAL in many places in my area to even have more than 30 to 50 gallons of gasoline (depending on location) on the premises regardless of how it's stored, unless it's in an operable vehicle. (Of course I could store more of it safely, since I'm so smart and know how to do almost anything; but can I trust my neighbor's tank not to explode and burn down my house?)

What would be most helpful would be more widespread recognition that most of the people who think they "must have ..." aren't really so important that it really would make much difference if they'd just sit on their butts and be patient until normal services are returned by the people who are working on getting it back.

Those who really have an emergency should be able to get assistance, to the extent that there's anything that can be done, but demanding what you can get along without for a while ('cause you're so much more important than others?) is not the "neighborly thing to do."

John