Yangon, Myanmar ? Myanmar’s official media said today that 10,000 people were killed by a powerful cyclone in just one town, confirming fears of a spiraling death toll from the storm’s 12-foot tidal surges and high winds that swept away bamboo homes in low-lying coastal regions.

The ruling junta, an authoritarian regime that cut the nation off from the international community for decades, appealed for foreign aid to help in the recovery from Saturday’s disaster, the country’s deadliest storm on record.

The casualty count has been rising quickly as authorities reach hard-hit islands and villages in the Irrawaddy delta, the country’s major rice-producing region, which bore the brunt of Cyclone Nargis’s 120-mile-per hour winds.

Myanmar Foreign Minister told diplomats in Yangon on Monday that more than 10,000 people may have died when Cyclone Nargis struck Saturday.

Today, state television confirmed fears of a rapidly rising toll, reporting that 10,000 perished in the town of Bogalay and raising concern that the country’s overall death toll will rise significantly.

Residents of Yangon, the former capital of 6.5 million, said they were angry the government failed to adequately warn them of the approaching storm and has so far done little to alleviate their plight.

“The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared,” said Thin Thin, a grocery store owner.

The death toll would be the highest from a natural disaster in southeast Asia since the tsunami of December 2004, which killed 229,866 people.