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Something that should maybe be pointed out about ham radio is that there's local ham radio (VHF/UHF) and there's long distance ham radio (HF). People keep mentioning that ham radio can reach long distances, even other continents, and that's true but that's the harder, more expensive HF side of ham radio.
When you get your first ham license, you are limited to VHF/UHF bands and a little slice of the 10 meter HF band that isn't very useful. Even if it were useful, most radios are either VHF/UHF only ($100-300, $30 for a lower powered handheld radio), HF only ($500 and up), or all bands (well over $1000.)
It's hard to talk about range because it always depends on location, but VHF/UHF has a range that should cover your town/city and maybe enough to reach the next town, maybe enough to reach outside the disaster zone, depending on the disaster. VHF/UHF only needs a simple, cheap antenna that you can stick to anything and it'll just work, more or less.
HF generally requires big antennas that take a lot of tweaking and/or other expenses to work right.
Could you run one of these on a generator? Like a small single-family generator with wheels
Yeah, no problem. Most ham radios are set up to use 12 volts so they can be installed in a vehicle. They don't need a lot of power. But if you're using it at home with normal 120v power (from the power company or from a generator) you actually have to get a power supply to feed it 12 volts. This is a cheap one: https://www.amazon.com/Regulated-Converter-Interface-Amplifiers-TOPPOWER-PS1330A/dp/B0CZP5C2PY?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&smid=A5JF8YGI5RMR2&gQT=1
You could also hook it up to a 12v battery and use the generator to charge the battery.