A large tree near Liberty High School and another large tree in City Park were among those that fell victim to high winds that also brought down some power lines Tuesday, authorities said.

The tree in the 300 block of East J Street, near Liberty High, belonged to the Benicia Unified School District, said administrative secretary Sharon Williams, who works in City Manager Brad Kilger’s office.

Benicia Public Works Department employees cleared the portion of the tree that was blocking the street, and the school district office was called to remove the portion that blocked the sidewalk, Williams said.

A second tree in the vicinity of the first also fell, as did a large acacia tree in City Park.

“There was indeed a tree that fell on the play structure in the City Park,” Benicia Fire Chief Jim Lydon said.

“We were on scene, and although the park and play structure were occupied at the time, there were no injuries as a result of the fallen tree,” he said.

Parks and Community Services Department employees secured the site, Director Michael Dotson said.

“This afternoon, a large acacia tree fell in City Park, causing damage to the Playground of Dreams due to the high winds,” Dotson said.

“Barricades and caution tape have been placed around the entire playground to ensure public safety.”

A contractor began removing the tree Wednesday, and Benicia’s building maintenance staff were asked to assess the damaged sections of the playground after the tree has been removed, Dotson said.

“Also, a pine tree fell at Community Park, and was removed by staff (Tuesday) afternoon,” he said.

The city of Benicia’s website also experienced problems Tuesday, though the difficulty might not be weather-related.

Meanwhile, Williams said City Hall also received calls reporting downed trees that are the responsibility of Caltrans.

Among them are a tree that fell about 1 p.m. Tuesday on East Fifth Street near the westbound on-ramp to Interstate 780 and another that fell along Southampton Road.

Benicia police Lt. Mike Greene said Tuesday that the falling trees and debris being blown by the high winds “can create hazards, but we haven’t had any fires, collisions or injuries related to any of the wind-related incidents.”

Lydon said his department received a few reports of “issues with power lines, however none have resulted in any fires,” he said.

While Tahoe-bound vacationers were lined up to leave the Bay Area and commuters tried to get home shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday, all lanes of Interstate 80 in Vallejo were closed after falling trees pulled down power lines.

Along that highway, wind gusts reached at least 60 mph, causing a massive eucalyptus tree near Admiral Callaghan Lane to topple, damaging at least one vehicle. The downed power lines sparked a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

Westbound lanes were reopened just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to reports from California Highway Patrol, but the eastbound lanes were closed until after 7:30 p.m. that day.

According to multiple reports, cities and commuters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area were affected as fallen trees blocked North I-238 in San Leandro until late Tuesday night, and trees fell on BART tracks in San Francisco, Concord, Hayward and Oakland, interrupting service not only to standard routes but also the new connector that carries riders to and from the Oakland International Airport and the Coliseum station.

Winds as high as 62 mph were recorded on Mount Diablo.

In Benicia, gusts from the north reached 45.6 mph downtown Tuesday, and were as high as 33 mph at the Water Treatment Plant, 100 Water Way, and 32 mph in the Southampton subdivision.

Elsewhere in the city, southerly winds were milder, less than 20 mph near Seaview Drive and along Rose Drive.

Lynsey Paulo, a spokesperson for Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), said Benicia experienced seven outages Tuesday that affected about 2,780 customers. But their service had been restored by Wednesday morning, she said.

In PG&E’s entire service territory that spans from California’s northern border to Bakersfield and from the Sierras to the Pacific Coast, 327,000 customers lost power because of the impact of high winds and tough weather, “everything from trees and limbs in the lines, poles snapping, the things you expect,” Paulo said.

Some of those snapped poles caused transformers to explode, according to some reports.

By Wednesday, 317,000 of those customers, “or about 97 percent,” had their electricity restored, Paulo said.

A high wind advisory, warning of north winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts between 45 to 55 mph, remained in effect until noon Wednesday, and a freeze watch has been issued through Friday morning, according to weather services. Some areas may experience temperature drops as low as the mid- to upper 20s, and below-freezing temperatures of up to eight hours.