Hers-Vif
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: Departments and towns along its course are: 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: