A motorist was critically injured when his car plunged from the George Washington Parkway in Arlington after Monday’s snow, the Arlington County Fire Department said.

       The crash occurred in the Donaldson Run area in the late afternoon, after the storm had ended, according to officials.

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       After leaving the parkway, the car may have plunged as much as 70 feet down the steep embankment bordering the road, according to the estimate of the D.C. fire department, which took part in the rescue.

       Arlington fire department personnel climbed down the embankment to extricate the driver, who was reported trapped in his vehicle, a spokesman said.

       Ropes were used to lower the critically injured driver to a D.C. fireboat in the Potomac River, said Capt. Nate Hiner, an Arlington County Fire Department spokesman.

       The fireboat took the driver downriver to the Columbia Island Marina, said Vito Maggiolo, a D.C. fire department spokesman. He said Arlington officials then took the man to a hospital.

       The cause of the crash was not immediately known.