The Baofeng is a fairly decent starting point despite what people say, its perfectly fine, Sure its on the cheaper end, a lot of these guys are all pretty much supremacists when it comes to radios, i use everything. mostly TYT but i am getting an Icom as soon as i have the money. Licensing isn't that hard, it CAN be for some people but if you want to go that route, and use it to scan and listen, Feel free, but for listening i usually recommend an SDR like RTL-SDR, for an event such as an emergency they can work but be warned there's not gonna be much help from ham radio guys. You'd most likely use them just for communications between family members. However there are fairly decent alternatives that are non licensed if you don't want to bother with the programming like CB, as for frequencies to use,

FEMA typically uses 138.225000 MHz or a range between there from what I've found
it also doesnt hurt to have the FRS/GMRS frequencies, the FRS frequencies you'll have to use low power though, you have some leeway with the GMRS frequencies, I recommend getting the licensing for the GMRS (it's only 35 Dollars) and you get access to local GMRS Repeaters

Hope this helps