Cicadas are sounding off, with South Carolina residents calling the cops due to loud noise

NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — They've been underground for more than a decade and they're appearing with a collective song that can be as loud as jet engines...what are they?

Cicadas.

Trillions of red-eyed periodical cicadas are emerging in the eastern U.S. this month.

The Newberry County Sheriff's Office said the department has received numerous calls about a noise that sounds like a siren, whine or roar.

Authorities urged the public not to be alarmed, as it's hatching season for cicadas. Officials told residents that although the noise may be "annoying," the insects are harmless.

Cicadas are a super family of insects that appear each spring. The nymphs have lived underground for 13-17 years and now this time they are hatching. Although to some, the noise is annoying, they pose no danger to humans or pets. Unfortunately it is the sounds of nature," the sheriff's office wrote on social media Tuesday.

When a male cicada makes noise it is to mate or send a distress call. The hotter the day, the louder the sound.

Their collective songs can be as loud as jet engines and scientists who study them often wear earmuffs to protect their hearing.

The University of Connecticut said two broods are emerging this year, including XIX, which comes out every 13 years, and Brood XIII, which comes out every 17 years.

While XIX are emerging in the Georgia and Southeast, XIII are emerging in Illinois.

"Generally, a 13-year brood emerges in the same year as a 17-year brood roughly every 5-6 years, though most of the 17-year broods are not in contact with a 13-year brood, so the different cicadas are clearly separated in space," according to the University of Connecticut. "A co-emergence involving adjacent broods of different life cycles is something that happens only roughly every 25 years. Any two specific broods of different life cycles co-emerge only every 221 years."

That means 2024 marks the first time since 1803 that two broods are emerging simultaneously.

"You will be able to see all seven named periodical cicada species as adults in the same year, which will not happen again until 2037. You will not see all seven named species emerge in the state of Illinois again until 2041," according to the University of Connecticut.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press and The National Desk's Jessica A. Botelho contributed to this report.