That level of damage is enough to send the USA into a recession.
There is little chance of that now that the water over the emergency spillway has ceased. But as HKMk23 said, if they hadn't stopped the flow, the emergency spillway could have been compromised possibly leading to a V-shaped release that could propagate south along the spillway top threatening the concrete spillway and maybe the dam itself. It would depend on the presence and strength of the underlying bedrock but as we saw with just a few feet of flowing water there was considerable erosion. Just imagine what 30 feet of hydraulic head would do!
Before that spillway is used again, it will have to be investigated including the properties of the subsurface material in the vicinity of that spillway. I expect there will be a drilling project to determine the depth and type of bedrock below the overlying jointed and fractured rock followed by backfill and cementing to the surface.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3524221/posts?page=630#630
And check Maggie’s posts; tons of info...
And this...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3524221/posts?page=654#654
I don't think it will come to that, causing flooding to the piers of SF. But if, just if, it came to that... keep in mind that SF Bay waters are just a couple of feet below street level at some piers at high tide. If water came over the Embarcadero Street surface then it would cause flooding into the BART/Muni subway tunnels which thousands of people use daily. I can imagine that authorities would evacuate the tunnels if they know a water surge is coming. Nonetheless, it would cause major damage to the subway tunnels (Muni tunnel is second level down, BART is third level below street level and dips under the Bay).