"It was right outside my front door; a bolt of lightning strikes this car, it hit the car so much it went into other cars.
"The lightning flipped it into the air, I've never seen anything like it in my life, I just thought 'wow'.
"He definitely had a lucky escape. The car started smoking, we thought he was going to die."
Mr Hill said he and others rushed to the driver's aid, helping him clamber out of the stricken vehicle.
He also offered a pair of socks to the man, who was barefoot having lost his flip-flops in the crash.
The motorist, in his 40s, escaped injury, though he was taken to a south London hospital as a precaution.
He was also arrested on suspicion of drink driving.
"His car was battered, it was battered worse than cod," Mr Hill added.
Police arrived shortly after 11.30pm and closed the road for about three hours.
Burrage Road resident Zoe Saint, 25, told the News Shopper: "When I arrived to the car I saw that it was smoking, other people were running towards to help, the back window had been smashed."
Ms Saint, who helped the man out of the car, added: "I asked the people who were there what they saw as they were also standing outside, they said they saw lightning hit and the car just went up in the air - they just saw the car flip."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were called to reports of a car that had been struck by lightning as it drove in Burrage Road.
"Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found the car, a silver Renault, on its side in the street.
"The driver of the car - a man believed aged in his 40s - was taken to a south London hospital as a precaution; he was not injured.
"The driver was also arrested on suspicion of drink driving."
