I have never noticed any bad, ill effects from [adult] cicadas before...
Birds love chasing them for food!

[Not sure of what any mischief the larvae/grubs may do while underground?]

Yes, they are noisy though; just p/o nature (serenading for love e.g., 'O sole mio:).

No vegetarians here, I reckon :)

The noise is annoying but c'est la vie. Kudos to those of you who eat them.......definite bug free diet here.

It took me awhile but I finally found some information that I heard recently that initially I could not believe.  The population can go from tens of thousands to 1.5 million per acre.  This year is suppose to be a pumper crop so I hope they don't like figs.  There are two cycles which they only have theories about and they occur every thirteen and every 17 years.  So after this you can relax for at least a decade.  We only have an occasional one in a tree during the summer.  I read that the sound they produce is 90 decibels which is pretty load.  It will also be a bumper crop for a food source so maybe the other critters will leave the figs alone.  The only problem is that means record litters of critters so there will be more mouths to feed later.

Uh boy - while the go-withs -read celery = good , cicadas in any way, shape or form , no matter how you disguise them , just doesn't sound appetizing to me !

I think , that the "latex" in our figs deters the females from depositing eggs in fig trees.
A few may be eager or confused , but I doubt if a big problem for us.
                                    Fred   7a   N.Car.

Fred,
That also what I was wondering as the last time we had the brood ll cicadas my fruit trees - especially apples - got hit but the few figs I had weren't touched. 

It's too bad the figs won't be ripe while the cicadas are fresh and good for munching on. Cicadas with a nice fig glaze  --hmmm.

Cicadas to outnumber people 600 to 1

WASHINGTON (AP) - Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

OOOPs. I'll fix that for ya Bob.

What a boon for the country's economy.  Just bag em' up and ship em' to the cicada-eatin' people and their countries who love these things.