The Hers-Vif (, "Live Hers" (), as opposed to the slower flowing Hers-Mort, "Dead Hers"), also named Grand Hers or simply Hers, is a long river in southern France, right tributary of the Ariège.
The Hers-Vif rises at an elevation of about near the Chioula Pass of the Pyrenees, approximately north of Ax-les-Thermes. It is the major tributary of the Ariège into whose right bank it flows upstream from Cintegabelle in the Haute-Garonne.
It flows some through the Pyrenees, descending to the village of Peyrat, where it reaches a piedmont plain. Its valley widens as it traverses the plain, reaching the medieval city of Mirepoix, which marks the start of its lower valley.
Several rivers flow into it: From the Pyrenees: the ; the ; the From the piedmont plain and hills: the Blau and the ; From the hills of Lauragais and Razès: the and the
Departments and towns along its course are: Ariège: Prades, Bélesta, La Bastide-sur-l'Hers, Mirepoix, Mazères Aude: Comus, Chalabre Haute-Garonne: Calmont
Floods
The Hers is probably known as vif (intense or rapid in this context) because of its sometimes spectacular floods – that of 16 June 1289 having entirely destroyed Mirepoix. More recently, there have been: 23 June 1875: estimated flow rate of at Mazères; 6 February 1919: estimated flow rate of at Mazères; 19 May 1977: estimated flow rate of at Mazères; 16 January 1981: estimated flow rate of at Mazères; 11 June 2000: estimated flow rate of at Mazères; 24 January 2004: estimated flow rate of at Mazères.
References