Bomb cyclone leaves hundreds of thousands without power in US

A 'bomb cyclone' pounding California and the Pacific Northwest with heavy rain and strong winds has claimed two lives and will likely fuel flooding, rock slides, debris flows and more power outages, as per the US National Weather Service.

The storm was forecast to linger into the weekend and produce an additional 6-12 inches of rainfall, the weather service said. The 'atmospheric river' prompted a high-risk warning being issued for excessive rainfall along the California coast. More than 330,000 homes and businesses were already without power in Washington state, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the USA Today.

A developing storm system forecast to swing off the Oregon and Washington coastline on Friday will add to the region's weather woes, the weather service noted.

A bomb cyclone, a potent cold-season coastal storm that's so-named because of its explosive strength, is colloquially known as a winter hurricane.

Such storms undergo an intensification process known as bombogenesis, which is a quick drop in atmospheric pressure, marking the strengthening of the storm, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.