Tropical Cyclone Rene hit the sparsely populated Manu'a islands with sustained winds of 120 km/h on Friday afternoon.
"They're getting clobbered from the back side. People reported strong winds," said Meteorologist Mase Akapo Jr. with the National Weather Service in Pago Pago.
Poe Mageo, a church minister who was visiting Fitiuta village in Manu'a, said residents were staying inside their homes.
The storm is expected to arrive at the capital of Pago Pago in the evening. As of 3pm local time Friday, the storm was 144km northeast of the city and moving southwest at a rate of about 18 km/h.
Akapo said the eye of the storm will likely pass over Tutuila, the most populated island in the territory of 65,000 people.
Rene may also threaten Samoa, Tokelau Islands, Tonga and Fiji.
Forecasters at the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Centre in Fiji issued a gale watch warning for Samoa's main island of Upolu, home to 135,000, where the September tsunami killed 183 people.
Residents on Tutuila have been boarding up their windows and stocking up on bottled water, flashlights and candles.
Most major businesses, including American Samoa's two commercial banks, closed early to allow their employees to go home and care for their families. The storm also closed the Post Office in Pago Pago was also closed.
All public and private schools, including the American Samoa Community College, shut down on Friday. The territory has opened all 29 public schools for use as emergency shelters.
Authorities in Tonga, Nuie and the Cook Islands have warned residents to prepare for the storm.
New Zealand Red Cross was assisting preparations on those islands, "issuing warnings ... securing infrastructure and making sure all satellite phones are charged and working," international operations manager Andrew McKie said.
The US Coast Guard is advising vessels bound for Pago Pago to reroute.
Cyclone Heta, the last major cyclone to smash through the region, hit Samoa and American Samoa in January 2004, damaging more than 4,600 homes in American Samoa, the American Red Cross said at the time.
It also devastated up to 90 per cent of the crops on Samoa.
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