00:48 Sioux Falls Tornado Rips Apart Building in Newly Released Footage Newly released footage from inside a health center in Sioux Falls shows the damage done by an EF-2 tornado that struck the city one year ago.

At a Glance A duck boat sank during a storm on a lake in southern Missouri, killing 17 people, some of them children.

An inspector said he warned the company of dangers with the boats in 2017.

Investigators say it will take a year before a final report is concluded.

An inspector of the Branson, Missouri, duck boats said he warned the operating company in 2017 that the tour boats were unsafe due to major design flaws that made a tragic disaster possible.

Inspector Steve Paul said an August 2017 review of two dozen boats owned by Ripley Entertainment revealed systems venting motor exhaust below the water line, which could cause the vessels to stall after water got into the motor. A further investigation of the boat accident will be performed to determine what exactly led to the sinking.

Paul said the boats were a "death trap" in which he would never allow his family to ride. Former NTSB chairman James Hall said the duck boats should be banned from use as tour vessels, as there's no way to make them safe, especially during bad weather.

The boat was lifted 80 feet from the bottom of the lake to the surface Monday morning.

(TIMELINE: How Duck Boat Tragedy Unfolded )

Survivors are sharing their account of the Missouri duck boat tragedy that killed 17 people, including nine from the same family.

Tia Coleman, of Indianapolis, survived with her young nephew. The rest of her family did not survive.

"Grab the baby!" are the last words she remembers hearing her beloved sister-in-law say before she perished, Coleman told KOLR from her hospital bed.

After she exited the boat, she spotted a rescue boat and swam as fast as she could. She said when she awoke in her hospital bed, she realized just how alone she was.

"I said, 'Jesus please keep me, just keep me so I can get to my children,'" Coleman told the station.

(WATCH: The Latest on Duck Boat Investigation )

“My heart is very heavy. Out of 11 of us, only two of us surviving – that’s me and my nephew,” Coleman told Fox59 Friday. “I lost all my children. I lost my husband. I lost my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. I lost my uncles. I lost my sister-in-law, who was really my sister, and I lost my nephew.”

"I'm OK, but this is really hard. It's really hard," she added.

Coleman noted that the captain told them they wouldn't need life jackets when they boarded the boat.

“However in doing that, when it was time to grab them, it was too late and I believe that a lot of people could have been spared,” said Coleman.

Coleman said she was being treated in the hospital for water in her lungs.

Coleman's husband and three children, ages 9, 7 and 1; her 45-year-old sister-in-law and 2-year-old nephew; her mother-in-law and father-in-law and her husband's uncle all died Thursday night in the deadliest accident of its kind in nearly two decades. Others killed included a Missouri couple who had just celebrated a birthday; another Missouri couple who was on what was planned as their last extended vacation; an Illinois woman who died while saving her granddaughter's life; an Arkansas father and son; and a retired pastor who was the boat's operator.

State and federal investigators were trying to determine what went sent the vessel, originally built for military use in World War II, to its demise. An initial assessment blamed thunderstorms and winds that approached hurricane strength, but it wasn't clear why the amphibious vehicle even ventured into the water.

The NTSB says it might take as long as a year to finish a report on what caused an amphibious duck boat to capsize and sink on a lake in southwestern Missouri Thursday.

Coleman said the crew told passengers they were going into the water first, before the land-based part of their tour, because of the incoming storm. The area had been under a severe thunderstorm watch for hours and a severe thunderstorm warning for more than 30 minutes before the boat sank.

Suzanne Smagala with Ripley Entertainment, which owns Ride the Ducks in Branson, said it was the company's only accident in more than 40 years of operation. The company hasn't commented on Coleman's account of the tour, which usually begins with a tour of downtown Branson, known for its country shows and entertainment, before the vessel enters the lake for a short ride on the water.

Company President Jim Pattison Jr. said the boat captain had 16 years of experience, and the business monitors weather.

(WATCH: Frightening Moments Before Boat Sank )

Twenty-nine passengers and two crew members were aboard. Fourteen people survived, including two adults who remained hospitalized Saturday. Coleman and her 13-year-old nephew were the only of the 11 members of her family who boarded the boat to make it out alive.

Others killed included 65-year-old William Bright and his 63-year-old wife, Janice. The couple had recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary and had talked about Branson being one of their last big trips, recalled neighbor Barbara Beck.

The couple moved to Higginsville from Kansas City, Missouri, three years earlier to be closer to a daughter and grandchildren and quickly embraced small-town life.

William Bright's final public Facebook posting noted the wedding anniversary and how happy he was with his wife, three kids and 16 grandchildren. Life, he wrote, had "been a lot of fun."

Another Missouri couple killed in the accident were 69-year-old William Asher and 68-year-old Rosemarie Hamann. The St. Louis-area couple had been celebrating Hamman's birthday earlier in the week. In a final Facebook photo posted by Hamann, he's sticking his tongue out and she's smiling.

"I can only imagine what they were going through. They were so in love. It's just heartbreaking," said friend Russ McKay, who said talked to Hamann the day before the accident.

(MORE: Large Tornadoes Devastate Several Iowa Towns )

McCay says Hamann told him the couple had just gone on a paddle boat and were planning to go again. He doesn't know why they chose the duck boat instead.

Chance also brought the Colemans aboard the doomed vessel.

Coleman said her family initially lined up for the wrong tour so they had to switch out their tickets for the 6:30 p.m. ride. She says the crew showed passengers where the life jackets were but said, 'Don't worry about it, you won't need it'," Coleman said.

When swells crashed into the boat, they were told to stay seated, she says.

"When that boat is found all those life jackets are going to be on there," Coleman said. "Nobody pulled them off."

The company's website had been taken down by Saturday, save for a statement that its operations would remain shuttered to support the investigation and allow time for families and the community to grieve.

While the boat captain survived, its driver, 73-year-old Bob Williams, did not.

Branson Mayor Karen Best said Williams was a "great ambassador" for the city. Williams' family in Rhode Island, where he'd lived for decades before retiring to Branson, remembered him as a deeply religious man who founded a local church.

"Pastor Bob was a prince of a man, loving, kind, and generous, whose loss to our family is incalculable," said Williams' son-in-law, Bishop Jeffery Williams, who now leads King's Cathedral in Providence.

Authorities said they received their first call about the incident at 7:09 p.m. local time. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the area that included Table Rock Lake at 6:32 p.m. The sheriff said he didn't know what time the boat went into the water.

The storm produced waves 5 feet high on the lake, said Capt. Jim Pulley, owner of Sea Tow Table Rock Lake, USA Today reported.

A duck boat resembles a floating bus. It has a canopy and floats just above the water line. Both factors could create difficulty for passengers trying to escape if the vessel sinks.

Duck boats, known for their ability to travel on land and in water, have been involved in other deadly incidents in the past. They include one in 2015 in Seattle in which five college students were killed when a boat collided with a bus, and one in 1999 that left 13 people dead after the boat sank near Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Safety advocates have sought improvements to the boats since the Arkansas incident. Critics argued that part of the problem is numerous agencies regulate the boats with varying safety requirements.

Duck boats were originally used by the U.S. military in World War II to transport troops and supplies, and later were modified for use as sightseeing vehicles.