A homeless man was struck and killed by a large tree branch Wednesday evening, according to the California Highway Patrol.

CHP officers responded at about 5:25 p.m. to reports of a person unresponsive at Ardley and MacArthur and found a man with fatal injuries, the CHP said.

The man was identified by the Alameda County coroner's bureau as 42-year-old transient Anthony Rippee.

"A branch that had fallen from a tree due to the rainy and stormy conditions had fallen and struck an individual below," CHP Officer Eli Davis said. "A medic from the Oakland Fire Department pronounced him dead at the scene."

It appeared the rain and wind may have caused the branch to break loose and fall, but the cause of the death was still under investigation, the CHP said.

A section of property where the branch came down is state-owned, and the CHP thus took the lead on the investigation.