NEWBERRY, S.C. — Alarmed residents have been calling law enforcement after hearing some high-pitched noises in Newberry, South Carolina.
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook that they have been getting calls from residents about loud noises they have been hearing. However, those noises are apparently cicadas.
Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said that calls were coming in from multiple locations on Tuesday as the cicadas were moving around Newberry County, the AP reported.
The male cicadas sing to attract mates, according to The Associated Press.
“We have had several calls about a noise in the air that sounds like a siren, or a whine, or a roar. The sound is cicadas,” the sheriff’s office said. “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 cicadas in South Carolina are part of the Brood XIX variety that come out every 13 years in the Southeast and Midwest, according to The Washington Post.
Two different broods will be coming out at the same time this year, which hasn’t happened since 1803, the newspaper reported.
“This is a once-in-a-decade event where you have this many hatched,” Foster told The Post. “Some people say it sounds like a siren. Other people say it sounds like an industrial engine or equipment running.”
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