Cicadas are so loud in a South Carolina community that residents are calling the police

Cicadas make so much noise in a district South Carolina Residents call the police asking why the sirens are going off or why they are hearing so much noise.

The Newberry County Sheriff's Office posted a message on Facebook Tuesday informing the public that the hissing sound is being made by male cicadas to try to attract a mate that has lain dormant for more than a decade.

People called police officers to ask what the noise was, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said.

The loud cicadas moved across the nation of about 38,000, about 40 miles northwest of Columbia, making calls from different locations throughout Tuesday, Foster said.

Millions of red-eyed cicadas emerge from the ground in the eastern United States this month. Emergent debris appears on a 13- or 17-year cycle.

Their collective song is as loud as a jet engine, and scientists who study them often wear earmuffs to protect their hearing.

Since Tuesday, Foster understands why.

“While the noise may disturb some people, it poses no danger to humans or pets,” Foster wrote in his report to County residents. “Unfortunately, this is the sound of nature.”