A devastating announcement came Tuesday for the community of Cozad.

The Tenneco plant will be closing, leaving hundreds without jobs in a town of only 4,000.

Company officials say they'll be phasing out jobs until the end of next year when the plant is scheduled to close for good.

As rain fell, dismal weather conditions reflected the mood of the Cozad community Tuesday.

"It's a sad day. It's a sad day for me, for all of our employees, for Tenneco in general," said plant manager Chief Davidson. "It's like delivering bad news to friends and family. [It's a] very difficult day."

Cozad's Tenneco plant will be closed by next year, leaving 500 employees without jobs.

"500 jobs means the world to a state and to a city like this, so obviously we want to work very hard to try to lessen that impact as much as possible and get this workforce back online," said Davidson.

He says the company will try to find workers local jobs or relocate them to other Tenneco plants.

Pharmacy owner Howard McGinnis says employees leaving town means customers leaving town.

Many residents told 10/11 News the closure is devastating and could leave Cozad a ghost town.

One business owner says his business dropped to half after earlier layoffs, and doesn't know if he'll survive.

However, McGinnis is optimistic.

"There have been shut downs before and we got through those things, but always with the belief that we'd reopen again," said McGinnis. "But we'll recover and we'll do well because the community is really always behind everything."

Tenneco says they'll be behind their employees as layoffs begin later this year.

"This has been an excellent plant with an excellent workforce for 48 years," said Davidson. "We want to go above and beyond."

That means severance packages, health care continuance, and relocation assistance.

But by the end of next year, it also means an empty Cozad plant.

Davidson says talks of a closure have been going on for the last few months, but the news still came as a shock.

Tenneco said in a news release Tuesday that the production of shock absorbers and other ride-control gear will be moved to plants in Hartwell, Ga.; Paragould, Ark.; and Celaya, Mexico.

Tenneco chairman and CEO Gregg Sherrill says the company regretted the closure but he thinks the production consolidation is necessary to strengthen Tenneco's long-term competitiveness.

The company is based in Lake Forest, Illinois.

In January, the company delayed a closure decision amid the economic uncertainty in the country and the automobile industry.