Data Processing

Data Loading

library("data.table")
library("ggplot2")
fileUrl <- "https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/repdata%2Fdata%2FStormData.csv.bz2"
download.file(fileUrl, destfile = paste0('C:/Users/Lenovo/Desktop/peer4/peer5/repdata%2Fdata%2FStormData.csv.bz2'))
stormDF <- read.csv('C:/Users/Lenovo/Desktop/peer4/peer5/repdata%2Fdata%2FStormData.csv.bz2')

stormDT <- as.data.table(stormDF)

Examining Column Names

colnames(stormDT)
##  [1] "STATE__"    "BGN_DATE"   "BGN_TIME"   "TIME_ZONE"  "COUNTY"    
##  [6] "COUNTYNAME" "STATE"      "EVTYPE"     "BGN_RANGE"  "BGN_AZI"   
## [11] "BGN_LOCATI" "END_DATE"   "END_TIME"   "COUNTY_END" "COUNTYENDN"
## [16] "END_RANGE"  "END_AZI"    "END_LOCATI" "LENGTH"     "WIDTH"     
## [21] "F"          "MAG"        "FATALITIES" "INJURIES"   "PROPDMG"   
## [26] "PROPDMGEXP" "CROPDMG"    "CROPDMGEXP" "WFO"        "STATEOFFIC"
## [31] "ZONENAMES"  "LATITUDE"   "LONGITUDE"  "LATITUDE_E" "LONGITUDE_"
## [36] "REMARKS"    "REFNUM"

Data Subsetting

Subset the dataset on the parameters of interest. Basically, we remove the columns we don’t need for clarity.

# Finding columns to remove
cols2Remove <- colnames(stormDT[, !c("EVTYPE"
  , "FATALITIES"
  , "INJURIES"
  , "PROPDMG"
  , "PROPDMGEXP"
  , "CROPDMG"
  , "CROPDMGEXP")])
# Removing columns
stormDT[, c(cols2Remove) := NULL]
# Only use data where fatalities or injuries occurred.  
stormDT <- stormDT[(EVTYPE != "?" & 
             (INJURIES > 0 | FATALITIES > 0 | PROPDMG > 0 | CROPDMG > 0)), c("EVTYPE"
                                                                            , "FATALITIES"
                                                                            , "INJURIES"
                                                                            , "PROPDMG"
                                                                            , "PROPDMGEXP"
                                                                            , "CROPDMG"
                                                                            , "CROPDMGEXP") ]

Converting Exponent Columns into Actual Exponents instead of (-,+, H, K, etc)

Making the PROPDMGEXP and CROPDMGEXP columns cleaner so they can be used to calculate property and crop cost.

# Change all damage exponents to uppercase.
cols <- c("PROPDMGEXP", "CROPDMGEXP")
stormDT[,  (cols) := c(lapply(.SD, toupper)), .SDcols = cols]
# Map property damage alphanumeric exponents to numeric values.
propDmgKey <-  c("\"\"" = 10^0,
                 "-" = 10^0, 
                 "+" = 10^0,
                 "0" = 10^0,
                 "1" = 10^1,
                 "2" = 10^2,
                 "3" = 10^3,
                 "4" = 10^4,
                 "5" = 10^5,
                 "6" = 10^6,
                 "7" = 10^7,
                 "8" = 10^8,
                 "9" = 10^9,
                 "H" = 10^2,
                 "K" = 10^3,
                 "M" = 10^6,
                 "B" = 10^9)
# Map crop damage alphanumeric exponents to numeric values
cropDmgKey <-  c("\"\"" = 10^0,
                "?" = 10^0, 
                "0" = 10^0,
                "K" = 10^3,
                "M" = 10^6,
                "B" = 10^9)
stormDT[, PROPDMGEXP := propDmgKey[as.character(stormDT[,PROPDMGEXP])]]
stormDT[is.na(PROPDMGEXP), PROPDMGEXP := 10^0 ]
stormDT[, CROPDMGEXP := cropDmgKey[as.character(stormDT[,CROPDMGEXP])] ]
stormDT[is.na(CROPDMGEXP), CROPDMGEXP := 10^0 ]

Making Economic Cost Columns

stormDT <- stormDT[, .(EVTYPE, FATALITIES, INJURIES, PROPDMG, PROPDMGEXP, propCost = PROPDMG * PROPDMGEXP, CROPDMG, CROPDMGEXP, cropCost = CROPDMG * CROPDMGEXP)]

Calcuating Total Property and Crop Cost

totalCostDT <- stormDT[, .(propCost = sum(propCost), cropCost = sum(cropCost), Total_Cost = sum(propCost) + sum(cropCost)), by = .(EVTYPE)]
totalCostDT <- totalCostDT[order(-Total_Cost), ]
totalCostDT <- totalCostDT[1:10, ]
head(totalCostDT, 5)
##               EVTYPE     propCost   cropCost   Total_Cost
## 1:             FLOOD 144657709807 5661968450 150319678257
## 2: HURRICANE/TYPHOON  69305840000 2607872800  71913712800
## 3:           TORNADO  56947380677  414953270  57362333947
## 4:       STORM SURGE  43323536000       5000  43323541000
## 5:              HAIL  15735267513 3025954473  18761221986

Calcuating Total Fatalities and Injuries

totalInjuriesDT <- stormDT[, .(FATALITIES = sum(FATALITIES), INJURIES = sum(INJURIES), totals = sum(FATALITIES) + sum(INJURIES)), by = .(EVTYPE)]
totalInjuriesDT <- totalInjuriesDT[order(-FATALITIES), ]
totalInjuriesDT <- totalInjuriesDT[1:10, ]
head(totalInjuriesDT, 5)
##            EVTYPE FATALITIES INJURIES totals
## 1:        TORNADO       5633    91346  96979
## 2: EXCESSIVE HEAT       1903     6525   8428
## 3:    FLASH FLOOD        978     1777   2755
## 4:           HEAT        937     2100   3037
## 5:      LIGHTNING        816     5230   6046

##Results

Events that are Most Harmful to Population Health

Melting data.table so that it is easier to put in bar graph format

bad_stuff <- melt(totalInjuriesDT, id.vars="EVTYPE", variable.name = "bad_thing")
head(bad_stuff, 5)
##            EVTYPE  bad_thing value
## 1:        TORNADO FATALITIES  5633
## 2: EXCESSIVE HEAT FATALITIES  1903
## 3:    FLASH FLOOD FATALITIES   978
## 4:           HEAT FATALITIES   937
## 5:      LIGHTNING FATALITIES   816
# Create chart
healthChart <- ggplot(bad_stuff, aes(x=reorder(EVTYPE, -value), y=value))
# Plot data as bar chart
healthChart = healthChart + geom_bar(stat="identity", aes(fill=bad_thing), position="dodge")
# Format y-axis scale and set y-axis label
healthChart = healthChart + ylab("Frequency Count") 
# Set x-axis label
healthChart = healthChart + xlab("Event Type") 
# Rotate x-axis tick labels 
healthChart = healthChart + theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle=45, hjust=1))
# Set chart title and center it
healthChart = healthChart + ggtitle("Top 10 US Killers") + theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5))
healthChart

Events that have the Greatest Economic Consequences

Melting data.table so that it is easier to put in bar graph format

econ_consequences <- melt(totalCostDT, id.vars="EVTYPE", variable.name = "Damage_Type")
head(econ_consequences, 5)
##               EVTYPE Damage_Type        value
## 1:             FLOOD    propCost 144657709807
## 2: HURRICANE/TYPHOON    propCost  69305840000
## 3:           TORNADO    propCost  56947380677
## 4:       STORM SURGE    propCost  43323536000
## 5:              HAIL    propCost  15735267513
# Create chart
econChart <- ggplot(econ_consequences, aes(x=reorder(EVTYPE, -value), y=value))
# Plot data as bar chart
econChart = econChart + geom_bar(stat="identity", aes(fill=Damage_Type), position="dodge")
# Format y-axis scale and set y-axis label
econChart = econChart + ylab("Cost (dollars)") 
# Set x-axis label
econChart = econChart + xlab("Event Type") 
# Rotate x-axis tick labels 
econChart = econChart + theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle=45, hjust=1))
# Set chart title and center it
econChart = econChart + ggtitle("Top 10 US Storm Events causing Economic Consequences") + theme(plot.title = element_text(hjust = 0.5))
econChart