Locally, they are not commenting on whether anyone had them on, but they were available overhead - I can see your point, that it might make egress harder.
But it’s July in MO; the water is not cold.
The main thing is, they were still out on the water despite a severe T-storm warning at 6:32 PM, the 60 mph winds came up at almost exactly 7 PM.
One of the cable news nets had cell phone footage shot from the other Duck boat, which was also on the lake at the time, and somehow made it to shore. During the sequence, the cell phone pans (briefly) to a nearby dock where the large, paddle-wheel steamboat was waiting to take other passengers on the lake. The Captain of the steamboat kept his vessel at the dock until the storm passed. Hard to believe the Duck operators weren’t aware of the approaching storm and didn’t direct their drivers to return to the dock.
The company that operates the Duck boats better lawyer up fast. They will be paying millions in damages to the families of the victims. Vessels of that type don’t do well in rough water; read any account of the “swimming” Sherman tanks that were supposed to go ashore with our forces on D-Day; most foundered and sank long before they reached the beach.
Agreed, and I find it even worse: There was a Severe T'storm Watch in place, and moreover, in my experience NWS issues a warning AFTER severe conditions are detected. If the operators were "watching" the weather they'd have known one or more storms were in the area at least 40-50 minutes before the boat's location got hit, with a good chance one or more could turn severe. If they had any brains or memory at all the ops would also know these storms in such an environment can quickly become incredibly violent: I've seen "moderate" storms produce a microburst of 80 mph or more B4 NWS could even get a warning out. Ditto for "quick spinup" tornadoes.
Put more simply, I just can't imagine being responsible for 30 lives in a vulnerable situation and not watching for potential trouble like a hawk...
I’d add, yes, a storm can pop up quickly from seemingly “nothing” in a favorable environment. That’s why the management of an operation HAS to keep a close eye on the weather...