Floods that were strong enough to kill at least 15 people, and sweep away houses, farm animals and cars in three southern Philippines towns are being blamed on excessive logging, according to Filipino officials and environmentalists. Officials said 28 others were missing and presumed dead, while 2,500 people remain homeless in the wake of the floods.

Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado said the Philippines should blame both illegal and legal logging, but use the tragedy to reclaim the area’s environment. For years the region’s poor and illegal loggers have continued overlogging forests in Lanao del Norte province in spite of government bans. Deforestation leads to erosion that magnifies flooding when heavy rains occur. Similar floods that killed more than 5,000 in the central city of Ormoc in 1991 led to the 1993 logging ban.

News compiled by Eric Hansen, Nate Hoogeveen, Jane Maguire, and Mary Catherine O'Connor of Outside magazine.