Tropical low off northeast Australia reaches cyclone strength

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A tropical low slowly moving toward northeast Australia reached cyclone strength on Wednesday and will bring flooding into Queensland state into the weekend. Tropical Cyclone Kirrily was moving west at 5 mph and forecast to make landfall overnight Thursday. “After the cyclone crosses the coast, it’s likely to weaken to a tropical low but have very high levels of rainfall associated with it,” Queensland Premier Steven Miles said at a news conference in Brisbane. “And so depending on its path, that rainfall is likely to cause flooding in parts of the state.” Winds gusting up to 120 kph (75 mph) were expected as it crossed the Whitsunday Islands before increasing to 150 kph (93 mph) on…