With mop-haired politico octopus Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton to the White House, the Canadian Immigration website has crashed under the weight of US citizens seeking an escape.

The Donald scooped up 49.1 per cent of the votes versus 47.3 per cent for his opponent (at the time of writing). Many of the key states swung behind the brash billionaire businessman, including Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania.

As the election neared its conclusion, Google searches for "move to Canada" and "immigrate to Canada” went up. The website for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) then had a blackout.

When El Reg tried to jump into this site this morning at points the page was unavailable, at others it loaded but was running painfully slowly. The CIC made no reference to this on its Twitter feed.

Elsewhere on Twitter, tributes started to pour in for Trump. UKIP MEP Nigel Farage first told the world that 2016 looked to be the year of “two big political revolutions” and then added:

I hand over the mantle to @RealDonaldTrump! Many congratulations. You have fought a brave campaign. pic.twitter.com/txD3RFMQ2l — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 9, 2016

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan issued a statement claiming the “success of the Trump campaign just proves that our views resonate with millions. They may not be ready for the Ku Klux Klan yet, but as anti-white hatred escalates, they will”.

The win for Trump comes after a nasty campaign, on both sides. He faced down accusations of racism, sexism and non-payment of taxes. In turn, he muddied the waters for Clinton with allegations about her email server and the FBI.

Some key states voted in favour of Clinton, including New York and California. Incidentally – or perhaps not – the state of California has just legalised recreational use of marijuana. They’ll need it. ®