Emerging cicadas are so loud in one South Carolina county that residents are calling the sheriff’s office asking why they can hear a “noise in the air that sounds like a siren, or a whine, or a roar.”
The Newberry County Sheriff’s Office sent out a message on Facebook on Tuesday letting people know that the whining sound is just the male cicadas singing to attract mates after more than a decade of being dormant.
Some people have even flagged down deputies to ask what the noise is all about, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said.
The nosiest cicadas were moving around the county of about 38,000 people, about 40 miles northwest of Columbia, prompting calls from different locations as Tuesday wore on, Foster said.
Their collective songs can be as loud as jet engines and scientists who study them often wear earmuffs to protect their hearing.
After Tuesday, Foster understands why.
“Although to some, the noise is annoying, they pose no danger to humans or pets,” Foster wrote in his statement to county residents. “Unfortunately, it is the sounds of nature.”
I think we all know how the cops will handle it.
I remember being a kid and whacking them out of the air with a stick. There were hundreds.
Are those cicadas black?
I live in Columbia and haven’t heard any cicadas yet! Maybe they’re on the way? I always liked the way they sound lol
Last year (or the year before?) there was a major cicada emergence in Indiana. You couldn’t hear a thing in our neighborhood, but if you drove a mile down the road, it was deafening. I think it probably depends on what sort of trees you have and how many.
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We usually get a ton of them here, but the weather has been really weird lately so I’m thinking they’ll probably show up soon once it warms up again
I think there is also a ground disturbance component to it. I noticed that around me, new neighborhoods didn’t have a lot while older neighborhoods and undisturbed areas had a lot.
Funny enough if you’re in Illinois there’s supposed to be a co-emerging this year. I was going to check it out but sadly they don’t overlap enough for it to be noticeably louder.
the whining sound is just the male cicadas singing to attract mates
I think I know why people in South Carolina are REALLY complaining about the cicadas.
Bunch of dumb hillbillies.
It’s probably the city people moving into an area with fields and forests that have never heard cicadas before.
Ppfffft. You obviously haven’t heard Australian cicadas. Those little fuckers’ll kill ya.
Oh boo-fucking-hoo. If i could handle it when I was a child then I think you grown up snowflakes can suck it up and deal.
There’s really no need for this.
