Flood forecasting using hydrological and hydraulic models is an efficient non-structural flood management option. For real-time flood forecasting in the data scarce Jhelum basin, the present study evaluated the capability of MIKE 11 Nedbor-Afstromings Model (NAM), hydrodynamic (HD) and flood forecasting (FF) models to forecast streamflow of four principal gauging stations of river Jhelum (Sangam, Ram Munshi Bagh, Asham and Baramulla). European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) model-forecasted precipitation and temperature data was used to increase the forecast lead time to 7 days. The forecast results were assessed by calculating coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and various error indices. Integration of the MIKE 11 NAM and HD modules improved the results of MIKE 11 NAM significantly. Values of R2 improved by 8–15% while that of NSE improved by 8–14% at various stations by using integrated model. MIKE 11 FF with ECMWF input was used to simulate the streamflow with lead times of 1to 10-days. The forecast results were efficient for lead times up to 7-days with R2 and NSE values 0.8 and 0.7, respectively. Peak error for 7-days forecast was 19.1% and the peak time error was 1.2 h. The developed model can be used for short to medium range flood forecasting for the data scarce, snow dominated Jhelum basin and can apply to similar basins around the globe as a component of the early flood warning system.