Fallen trees and downed wires don't have lights, and you can't expect DOT or utility crews to have cleared away trees before light. You need to remember that it is the eye of the storm that carries birds inland, not strong winds that blow them inland. If the eye of Bonnie passes 30 miles off the Outer Banks, and never crosses land, winds of 100-115 miles an hour won't blow Pterodroma petrels and the like to an inland lake. They could well blow such birds into Chesapeake Bay, as they have in the past, but there is no history of such an event in North Carolina, because our coast is essentially one string of land to a seabird, and they will not be blown inland. They might take up shelter in dunes, but they won't be found on a catfish pond in Pitt County.
Birds fall out of the eye onto large bodies of water, or even wet parking lots that look like water.
Check other lakes and ponds as well. Actually, some lakes are almost too big. Nonetheless, there are generally more birds there than at smaller lakes, and frustrating or not, you want to be at these larger bodies of water first. If the eye passes over Jordan Lake on Thursday morning, try to get there as soon as it is safe on Thursday morning or afternoon. Friday will be too late, though a few birds might still be present.