Backhoes cause damage in a small area, and generally it should be possible to notify the cable owner and for them to get a repair crew dispatched quickly.

A big storm can take out overhead cables in hundreds of places in a short time. It can take a day or more to even find all the damage, and you can have a lot more places that need repair than you have repair crews, so it can take days for some places to even get a repair crew on site.

Also, a storm that takes out overhead fiber or other telecom cables often also takes out power. I believe that in many areas the services that own non-power cables that share poles with power cables are not allows to touch anything on the pole until the power company restores power. That can further slow down scheduling telecom repairs.