Hers-Vif


The Hers-Vif, 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:
Departments and towns along its course are:
The Hers is probably known as vif because of its sometimes spectacular floods – that of 16 June 1289 having entirely destroyed Mirepoix. More recently, there have been: