My experience down in hurricane alley is that a wind storm can easily damage a cell transmission tower. If that does not get it, many cell towers are only equipped with a minimum level of backup power via standby batteries. Once the main line power is off, you may only have a few hours (or minutes) of cell phone service in the effected area depending on the maintenance schedule of the batteries in a particular tower. This was seen as a failure point in Florida in 2004. Now many towers here do have adequate backup power via automatic generators and the like, but if your area was not seen as needing such measures, you likely do not have it.

If I might add another suggestion, I am an amateur radio operator. The very best information I obtained during the 2004 hurricanes was from my neighbors operating relatively short range 2 meter radios. Amateur radio is by far the most dependable means of communication in a disaster.