Associated Press, Hickman, KY:  People along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries packed their belongings and emergency workers feverishly filled sandbags as high water pushed its way downstream today, Wednesday, in a slow motion disaster which could break flood records dating back to the 1920s.  From Illinois to Mississippi, thousands of people have already been forced from their homes and anxiety is rising along with the mighty river, even though it could be a week or two before some of the most severe flooding hits.  I've never seen it this bad, said 78-year-old Joe Harrison, who has lived in the same house in Hickman since he was 11 months old.  Floodwaters from the Mississippi turned his house into an island - dry - but surrounded by water.  He has been using a boat to get to his car, parked on dry ground along a highway that runs by his house.  Up and down the Big Muddy, farmers braced for a repeat of the desperate strategy employed earlier this week in Missouri, where army engineers blew up a levee and sacrificed vast stretches of farmland to protect populated areas upstream.  Forecasters and emergency officials said some of the high water records set during the great floods of 1927 and 1937 could fall.  Today, the Mississippi eclipsed the 46 foot mark set in 1937 in Cauruthersville, MO, and the water was still rising, with a crest of 49.5 feet for Sunday.  President Barack Obama declared disasters in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, making them eligible for federal help with relief efforts.  It does not cover individual assistance.