BANGKOK, Thailand – The number of dead and missing in the Myanmar cyclone soared past 60,000 Tuesday amid signs the toll will rise even higher. Much of the disaster zone remained flooded by seawater, threatened by disease and out of reach of an international relief operation that is taking shape.

President Bush offered to send U.S. Navy units to help in the operation, and sharply criticized the military-run government of the nation also known as Burma for delays in approving visas for emergency teams. Myanmar dissident groups took issue with the timing of the administration's criticism, suggesting it could complicate the relief effort.

Emergency supplies began arriving by air in wind-battered Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. But little or no aid reached the Irrawaddy Delta, a vast and low-lying rice-producing region that absorbed the storm's worst fury. Satellite photos showed catastrophic flooding of fields and villages as far inland as 35 miles.

A tidal wave that accompanied the cyclone was more deadly than the winds, Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told reporters in Yangon. "The wave was up to 12 feet high, and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

Speaking at a brief ceremony in the Oval Office to honor Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's detained democracy advocate, Mr. Bush said: "Our message to the military rulers is, 'Let the U.S. come and help you help the people.' "

The U.S. also offered $3 million in emergency aid Tuesday, up from $250,000 pledged on Monday. In addition, the Treasury Department loosened restrictions on charity groups to allow them to go into Myanmar without prior U.S. permission.

The president's statement came shortly after Myanmar's state television reported that 22,000 people had been killed and more than 40,000 people missing by Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which smacked into the country over the weekend. An estimated 1 million survivors are said to be in urgent need of relief supplies, notably in the delta.

Packing winds of about 120 mph, Nargis was the deadliest cyclone to strike in Asia since a 1991 storm killed 143,000 in Bangladesh.

Relief supplies from India, Thailand and other Asian neighbors have begun to arrive in Myanmar. A Royal Thai Air Force C-130 transport landed in Yangon on Tuesday carrying bottled water, emergency meals and other supplies.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other senior U.N. officials have been privately trying to nudge the Myanmar leadership to waive its visa policies, ease restrictions on the import of supplies and allow a U.N. assessment team into the country to determine the extent of destruction and need.