THE event that many feared would be the “Carmageddon” of epic traffic jams cruised calmly toward a finish last night, with bridge work on the Los Angeles roadway completed ahead of schedule and officials reopening a 16-kilometre stretch of one of the busiest US freeways.

The monster storm that has hit California with fierce winds and heavy rain dropped a thick blanket of snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains today and kept thousands of people from their homes in mudslide-prone areas.

A five-year-old girl found in a Californian ravine survived on dry noodles while remaining near her dead mother following a car crash 10 days ago.