Lightning blew this B.C. man's Crocs off. He lived to tell the tale

On an unusually muggy, dark night in August, Cal Misener was lying awake in bed listening to an intense rainstorm and remembering, with groggy displeasure, that he'd left windows of his truck open.

He rolled out of bed, slipped into his green camouflage Crocs shoes and jogged out to the truck in his pyjamas just after midnight.

He stepped his right foot up to the running board on the driver's side of the truck, leaned in to turn the key and everything around him exploded.

"There was this huge flash and bang ... When I looked down, I could see the undercarriage and the road underneath my truck was this bright, brilliant orange."

Misener, 50, was struck by lightning during one of the most dazzling thunderstorms B.C.'s South Coast has seen in some time. More than 1,600 lightning bolts darted across the night sky above southern Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and the western parts of the Lower Mainland in a 12-hour span.

The bolt that met Misener outside his Cates Hill home blew the rubber Crocs off his feet.

"The one Croc blew about 12 feet [3.5 metres] across the road and the right one kind of dropped underneath the truck. It was quite a shocking experience, forgive the pun," he said.

"It felt like what I can imagine sticking your finger in a light socket [would feel like]. Just this intense, intense electric pulse … I felt actually like both of my legs had been broken," he continued.

"I could actually smell something burning, so I thought, 'Oh, I hope that's not my skin burning.'"

Misener crawled up his front steps and into the house. His wife was well awake, having heard her husband screaming.

"I said, 'Honey, if you could, if you could get me a couple pillows, please, so I can elevate my legs and perhaps some ice while you're at it, so I can cool them down,'" said Misener​​​​​​​.

Paramedics said Misener​​​​​​​ wasn't seriously injured, aside from "unsurprising" high blood pressure and a racing heartbeat. In their file, the medics said they believed the lightning possibly struck the truck first, then their patient.

Experts said it was the truck, not the Crocs, that likely helped Misener​​​​​​​ avoid serious injury. The idea that rubber shoe soles prevent lightning from travelling through a person's body is not true, according to Environment Canada.

"Unfortunately, that is a myth. That lightning strike, or stroke ... would have gone through kilometres of air to get to the surface of the Earth. So, rubber, whether it's a couple inches or even several metres, is not going to prevent a lightning stroke from achieving what it's trying to do," said Armel Castellan, a warning preparedness meteorologist.

• Find more lightning safety tips from Environment Canada here

"The fact that he was in, or on, or partially in his truck could have probably been the more important factor because it's not the rubber of the tires that is insulating you from the ground, it's actually the metal of the body of the vehicle that is dissipating and taking the brunt of those electrical forces."

Misener, who said he's now feeling fine aside from some soreness in his right leg, stands by his Crocs.

"Do I know if they saved my life? I don't know for sure, but … I sure feel fortunate I had them on," he said.

"I know they aren't high on people's fashion lists but I have a new respect for Crocs, I'll tell you that."

Castellan said the safest place to be during a lightning storm is inside. If you are caught outside, it's best to stay away from tall objects, such as trees, telephone poles, wires and fences, and take cover in a low-lying area.

LISTEN | Cal Misener​​​​​​​ tells the story of the lightning strike: