The head of environmental services has admitted the council's call centre was not sufficiently staffed and suffered from a lack of training and equipment to handle the flooding which happened in East Wemyss and St Andrews on November 1.
Fraser Th
omson who compiled a report into the causes of the flooding and analysed the effectiveness of services provided, acknowledged in the immediate aftermath criticism had been levied at his department.
Mr Thomson blamed the flooding in East Wemyss on a heavy overflow of water due to "exceptional rainfall" at a culvert at the Kingslaw Burn which had become blocked with leaves and other debris.
Mr Thomson insisted the culvert, which is a known flood risk, is inspected on an ongoing basis but admitted formal records of such are not kept.
With regard to criticism over the council's emergency response Mr Thomson blamed a lack of call centre staff and said they are simply not trained or equipped to operate in a "command and control mode" similar to that of the emergency services.
Mr Thomson said lessons learned had already been the subject of a number of internal debriefing meetings.
He added: "In each area acknowledgement of ongoing work to improve emergency response has been made.
"It has been recognised that this work must be fully co-ordinated and prioritised.
"The Chief Fire Officer is to chair a high level council emergency management steering group remitted to oversee all the ongoing strands of emergency response work and identify other opportunities for improving integrated emergency management in Fife."
A number of households at both incidents had to be evacuated and 5000 sand bags were distributed throughout Fife with 12 roads also having to be closed after the rainfall.
Levenmouth Councillor Tom Adams, who blasted Fife Council call staff at the time when he alleged he was told to call back when water was pouring through his door, thanked Mr Thomson for the report adding it was "fair and quite accurate".
However, Councillor David Alexander warned although lessons seem to have been learned it wouldn't always be possible to prevent further floods.
He said: "If a situation ever happens where we are overwhelmed don't expect miracles.
"Our resources don't exist to cover all eventualities."
