Kingsview CIO Scott Martin On Fox Weather Live – 6.3.25

Click here to listen to the full interview.

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Fox Business Contributor Scott Martin joins us now from Fort Myers, Florida. Scott, great to see you, my friend. Always great to talk to you. You’re down there right now—how are things coming along? Because hurricane season just started a couple of days ago, man.

SCOTT MARTIN:  It feels nerve-wracking, Bob. I mean, I’ll tell you, good thing that this latest disturbance, like you mentioned, is out on the Atlantic side. But that doesn’t mean anything when it comes to the Gulf side, as you know, because the Gulf—you want to talk about bathwater, as you noted in that last segment, talking about the water off of Al Capco. I mean, my goodness, I’ve been in the Gulf this week, and I’ll tell you—I think I’ve taken colder showers than I have swimming in the Gulf.

So we’re worried about that, obviously. What’s good, though, to your point in the lead-in, is there’s some relief coming through from some of the counties—especially on the west coast of Florida—with bills and rescue efforts that are helping small businesses, homeowners, and so forth.

But the problem still is there’s a lot to recover from. There’s still a lot to rebuild. And the latest, Bob—in Pinellas County—they’ve got a bill right now, the Hurricane Recovery Act. It’s for Milton, Idalia, and one of the other hurricanes, but not Hurricane Ian.

Breaking—Ian was the crème de la crème of hurricanes, as far as I experienced. Because not only did I buy my house about, I don’t know, six months before that—which was awesome timing, don’t get me wrong—but that one really smashed the heck out of the west side of Florida.

So that one doesn’t have any real special relief tied to it. But yes, it’s still a very scary time. Because you’ve got to admit, man, after the last few years of this going on in Florida, you get a little gun-shy. You get a quick reminder of how fast things can go bad if you get a big hurricane over here.

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Yeah, it does. And it comes in clusters too, right? We had Idalia, like you said before, and then we had two more last year. What does the beach look like? Are they replenishing the sand right now? I mean, what’s the big priority down there?

SCOTT MARTIN:  Yeah—Hurricane Helene and Milton, right? The beaches are interesting. In certain spots on Captiva, they look good. They’ve rehashed the beaches, done some bulldozing and things like that. But on Sanibel—which in my opinion, back before Hurricane Ian, so we’re talking circa 2021, 2022, even 2023—back when I was a little baby, which is 50-plus years ago—the beaches were amazing.

I mean, Bob, you ran on those. I think we both did at one point as kids. But now those beaches are still kind of messed up. They’re rocky, they’re bumpy, they’re humpy. Some of those beaches just have not been replenished, and that’s too bad. Because, as you know, those are major attractions for people when they go down there. And that’s probably one of the reasons, among others, why some of these areas don’t recover as fast.

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Yeah, that’s the one part. I mean, you expect the beach to be nice and clean and pure white with the grains of sand, but now—you’re right—it’s a little rocky. It does take some time to come back, no question. But let’s talk about the businesses that are just starting to come back. Some of them—if they’re not totally back now—Scott, are they halfway? Are they doing at least some business down there?

SCOTT MARTIN:  Some are, yes. Some are doing like halftime. Some have started to rehire employees. Some businesses went away, Bob. I mean, that’s the saddest part.

Going back to my personal experience of Captiva—there’s been a pretty big sea change on the island when it comes to businesses. Some places made it through. The Mucky Duck is making it, but they’re under major repairs. The Green Flash made it. But then some others, like some of the pizza places—I think it was Doc Ford’s and a couple of others—Arts and the arcade I used to love to play at? Gone. That business is done.

There’s just been a switchover. And some businesses, I think, had the right insurance—which we learned the hard way that you have to have. When you get hurricane insurance, it’s not just “hurricane.” It’s flood, wind, and hurricane—boys and girls. Flood, wind, and hurricane.

If they had the right insurance, Bob, those businesses are getting money and being able to rebuild. But man, it’s still sad to go through.

Sanibel again—another example. I mean, Bell looks completely different on the business side than it did before. And that’s still going on. We’re going to be at three years since that hurricane this October.

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Yeah, that’s what I was going to ask you. You’re familiar with the landscape and just the way the buildings look—there are buildings, but then there are empty lots, right? I mean, totally washed away. It’s just heartbreaking to see that.

SCOTT MARTIN:  It’s sad. It’s so sad. I mean, Sanibel was such a beautiful place. And let’s throw in another one—Fort Myers Beach. Fort Myers Beach was pretty much ground zero with Ian.

I mean, you saw it, Bob. You not only saw the little snack shacks and stuff like that on the beach and the little drink places, but you also saw condominiums get smashed up pretty badly. And if you go down to Fort Myers Beach—as we show right there—you’ve got a lot of beach stuff going on.

It still looks like that. It still looks kind of hodgepodge—kind of just put back together. And so I just hope—I mean, I just pray, to whoever your higher power is—I pray that there’s not going to be a bad season.

There kind of was last year, and definitely in 2022. But if you look at the data that a couple of you guys have gone over the last few days with some meteorologists, they’re calling for, what—five Cat 3+ storms? That freaks me out.

BOB VAN DILLEN:  I know. It should. Listen—just be on your guard, for sure. It doesn’t tell you where they’re going to make landfall—that’s the one good thing about it.

SCOTT MARTIN:  I feel like I’m targeted, you know what I mean?

BOB VAN DILLEN:  I know. Listen, I don’t blame you. West Coast of Florida the last couple of years—and we were talking to Bryan Norcross yesterday—it does come in clusters. Right? If you’re not getting hit, you’re probably not going to get hit the next year. But then all of a sudden, it seems like things start to pick up a little bit.

So listen, hopefully we don’t get a single one. But Scott, it’s always great to talk to you, man. I hope to talk to you again in a little bit. I want to see when everything does come back in full swing. I’m going to buy your umbrella drink, man. That’s what I’ve got to do.

SCOTT MARTIN:  Let’s go hang out, man! We’ll do a segment from the spot too—to show everybody how great it is. And my hair—nobody will believe this—maybe my hair won’t be as crazy. I’ll get a haircut by then, I promise. BVD!

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Listen, it’s the same as mine—at least I just shaved my helmet off. I was like, “It’s just too hot.”

SCOTT MARTIN:  Yours somehow looks better!

BOB VAN DILLEN:  Okay, see you, man. Scott—great to talk to you, buddy. Scott Martin out there, he’s our Fox Business Contributor. Always having a good time with me as well. Good stuff.