Gaylord Opryland announced plans today to lay off more than 1,700 workers as repairs are made to the hotel and surrounding attractions.

Gaylord has continued to pay salary and provide benefits since the hotel was evacuated a month ago. The Cumberland River rose above its 100-year levees and submerged much of the complex.

Gaylord CEO Colin Reed says it was an “incredibly difficult decision” to let go of so many employees, which the company calls its “stars.”

“The cost of this disaster has meant that we have to balance the future of our business and our fiduciary duty to our shareholders with the responsibility we have to our stars.”

Employees will get two weeks of severance pay after they’re released at the end of next week. They can also purchase health insurance through Gaylord until September.

Gaylord will maintain a staff of roughly 900 people, who will provide security, manage bookings and take care of the landscaping. The hotel plans to reopen November 15th and will begin hiring again six weeks out.

The total cost to Gaylord for repairs is more than $170 million. That’s after accounting for insurance money and tax breaks.

Gaylord is pursuing legal action. CEO Colin Reed says his last warning suggested the river would crest two feet below the 100-year levees.

“It would seem the predictions did not reflect the extraordinary volume of water released into the Cumberland River on Sunday after that contributed to this historic flooding.”

Reed says Gaylord has retained hydrologists and attorneys to explore legal recourse, presumably against the Army Corps of Engineers. He points out state and federal elected officials have already called for an investigation into management of the dams upstream from Nashville.