[Objective] To evaluate the suitability of HEC-HMS model in flood warning forecast in data-insufficient mountain watersheds.[Methods] This paper established and validated HEC-HMS model for flood simulation in the mountainous watersheds of Urumqi River basin with limited hydro meteorological data.[Results] The established HEC-HMS model simulated thirteen typical historical flood streams in the watershed with relatively good performances of Urumqi River basin in 1957-2009. The determination coefficients of the simulation varied between 0.67~0.87 and the simulation error for each flood stream was less than 15.6%。[Conclusion] The calibration of HEC-HMS model parameters is reasonable and the model is of practical application in the data-scarce arid mountainous watersheds for flood stream simulation.