Most likely true.
an FYI, lightning struck a tree just outside my tent. Deafening yes, blinding yes, hot, yes, scary without a doubt. It happened to be a rather violent storm and my brother had just gone from the tent to the camper (we were no more then 12 at the time) and I was wide awake counting the tenths of seconds between the light and sound whent this particularly nasty lightning hit. It hit a tree just outside the front of my tent, the air was amazingly charged and the whole of my world inside of the tent went brilliantly white then horrifingly black and quiet. I had been just looking in the direction of the lightning stike. Surely had I had the flaps open and been looking outside at the tree, I'd have gone blind. The next morning, we surveyed the camper and the campsite. The tree was split in two and the ground charred black. The camper had a charred entrance point and the truck a blown tire.
That summer we experienced some of the most amazing electrical storms I've ever seen or heard. The lightning I saw over Lake Winnipeg later was cloud to cloud but the type that started as one spoke and broke off into hundreds or thousands and spines as it travelled. It was earie and creepy. I've never seen such spectacular electrical storms since.
Anyway, the person below has experienced a tornado up close and personal, that is, within a mile of touch down.