MICANOPY, Fla. -- A state park ranger died when a tree crashed through the roof of his pickup truck during a storm Saturday afternoon.

The accident happened just after 2 p.m. at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, south of Gainesville.

The Florida Highway Patrol said Ranger Nathan Howell's Ford Ranger was stopped on Puggy Road because it was blocked by a downed tree. As Howell sat in the vehicle, a second tree fell atop the pickup, causing the roof to collapse.

Alachua County Emergency Services pronounced Howell dead at the scene. The 27-year-old ranger Ohio native had been a ranger for eight months and lived on the park premises with his wife, Angela.

George Edwards, president of the Friends of Paynes Prairie support organization, told the Gainesville Sun that he was saddened by Howell's death.

"I'm just devastated that one of our people -- a young man -- lost his life," Edwards said. "He was a good young man and an accident like that -- it’s like a lightning bolt out of the sky."

Officials said this the the first fatal accident at the state park.