Billions of cicadas set to appear in rare ‘double brood emergence’ | National [Video]

In a matter of weeks, they will dig their way out from underground, red eyes shining, deafening song filling the air.

It will be a confluence of creatures the likes of which hasn’t been seen in the United States since Thomas Jefferson was president — and won’t happen again until 2245. It’s a rare emergence of insects some are referring to as cicadapocalypse.

Billions of cicadas are set to surface this spring as two different broods — one that appears every 13 years, and another every 17 years — emerge simultaneously.

The 13-year group, known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, is the largest periodical cicada brood, stretching across the southeastern United States. The Northern Illinois Brood, or Brood XIII, emerges every 17 years.

“It’s …