- Hers-Vif
Infobox River | river_name = Hers-Vif
caption =
origin =Pyrenees
mouth = Ariège
coord|43|18|21|N|1|33|9|E|name=Ariège-Hers-Vif|display=inline,title
basin_countries =France
length = 135 km
elevation = ±1500 m
discharge = 15 m³/s
watershed = 1,350 km²The Hers-Vif ("Live Hers", as opposed to the slower flowingHers-Mort , "Dead Hers"), also named "Grand Hers" or simply "Hers", is a 135 km longriver in SouthernFrance , right tributary of theAriège River .The Hers-Vif rises at a height of ±1500 m near the
Chioula Pass of thePyrenees , approximately 6 km north ofAx-les-Thermes . It is the major tributary of the Ariège into whose right bank it flows 2 km upstream fromCintegabelle in theHaute-Garonne .It flows some 30 kilometers through the Pyrenees, descending 1100 m to the village of Peyrat which 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: theLasset ; theFontaine de Fontestorbes ; theTouyre
*From the piedmont plain and hills: the Blau and theDouctouyre ;
*From the hills ofLauragais andRazès : theAmbronne and theVixiège .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
June 16 ,1289 having entirely destroyed Mirepoix. More recently, there have been:
* 23rd of June, 1875: estimated flow rate of 1500 m3/s at Mazères;
* 6th of February, 1919: estimated flow rate of 600-800 m3/s at Mazères;
* 19th of May, 1977: estimated flow rate of 1070 m3/s at Mazères;
* 16th of January, 1981: estimated flow rate of 1100 m3/s at Mazères;
* 11th of June, 2000: estimated flow rate of 500 m3/s at Mazères;
* 24th of January, 2004: estimated flow rate of 500 m3/s at Mazères.References
*http://www.geoportail.fr
* [http://sandre.eaufrance.fr/app/chainage/courdo/htm/O1--0290.php?cg=O1--0290 The Hers-Vif at the Sandre database]
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