R Markdown

This Data Processing is to explore the NOAA Storm Database.

  1. Across the United States, which types of events (as indicated in the EVTYPE variable) are most harmful with respect to population health?
# Dowloading data if it's not already done
if(!file.exists("stormData.csv.bz2")) {
  download.file("https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/repdata%2Fdata%2FStormData.csv.bz2",
  destfile = "stormData.csv.bz2", method = "curl")
}

# Loading data
dsNOAA <- read.csv(bzfile("stormData.csv.bz2"), sep=",", header=T)
tidyNOAA <- dsNOAA[,c('EVTYPE','FATALITIES','INJURIES', 'PROPDMG', 'PROPDMGEXP', 'CROPDMG', 'CROPDMGEXP')]
head(dsNOAA)
##   STATE__           BGN_DATE BGN_TIME TIME_ZONE COUNTY COUNTYNAME STATE  EVTYPE
## 1       1  4/18/1950 0:00:00     0130       CST     97     MOBILE    AL TORNADO
## 2       1  4/18/1950 0:00:00     0145       CST      3    BALDWIN    AL TORNADO
## 3       1  2/20/1951 0:00:00     1600       CST     57    FAYETTE    AL TORNADO
## 4       1   6/8/1951 0:00:00     0900       CST     89    MADISON    AL TORNADO
## 5       1 11/15/1951 0:00:00     1500       CST     43    CULLMAN    AL TORNADO
## 6       1 11/15/1951 0:00:00     2000       CST     77 LAUDERDALE    AL TORNADO
##   BGN_RANGE BGN_AZI BGN_LOCATI END_DATE END_TIME COUNTY_END COUNTYENDN
## 1         0                                               0         NA
## 2         0                                               0         NA
## 3         0                                               0         NA
## 4         0                                               0         NA
## 5         0                                               0         NA
## 6         0                                               0         NA
##   END_RANGE END_AZI END_LOCATI LENGTH WIDTH F MAG FATALITIES INJURIES PROPDMG
## 1         0                      14.0   100 3   0          0       15    25.0
## 2         0                       2.0   150 2   0          0        0     2.5
## 3         0                       0.1   123 2   0          0        2    25.0
## 4         0                       0.0   100 2   0          0        2     2.5
## 5         0                       0.0   150 2   0          0        2     2.5
## 6         0                       1.5   177 2   0          0        6     2.5
##   PROPDMGEXP CROPDMG CROPDMGEXP WFO STATEOFFIC ZONENAMES LATITUDE LONGITUDE
## 1          K       0                                         3040      8812
## 2          K       0                                         3042      8755
## 3          K       0                                         3340      8742
## 4          K       0                                         3458      8626
## 5          K       0                                         3412      8642
## 6          K       0                                         3450      8748
##   LATITUDE_E LONGITUDE_ REMARKS REFNUM
## 1       3051       8806              1
## 2          0          0              2
## 3          0          0              3
## 4          0          0              4
## 5          0          0              5
## 6          0          0              6
head(tidyNOAA)
##    EVTYPE FATALITIES INJURIES PROPDMG PROPDMGEXP CROPDMG CROPDMGEXP
## 1 TORNADO          0       15    25.0          K       0           
## 2 TORNADO          0        0     2.5          K       0           
## 3 TORNADO          0        2    25.0          K       0           
## 4 TORNADO          0        2     2.5          K       0           
## 5 TORNADO          0        2     2.5          K       0           
## 6 TORNADO          0        6     2.5          K       0
# Convert H, K, M, B units to calculate Property Damage 
tidyNOAA$PROPDMGNUM = 0
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "H", ]$PROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "H", ]$PROPDMG * 10^2
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "K", ]$PROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "K", ]$PROPDMG * 10^3
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "M", ]$PROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "M", ]$PROPDMG * 10^6
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "B", ]$PROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$PROPDMGEXP == "B", ]$PROPDMG * 10^9


# Convert H, K, M, B units to calculate Crop Damage
tidyNOAA$CROPDMGNUM = 0
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "H", ]$CROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "H", ]$CROPDMG * 10^2
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "K", ]$CROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "K", ]$CROPDMG * 10^3
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "M", ]$CROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "M", ]$CROPDMG * 10^6
tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "B", ]$CROPDMGNUM = tidyNOAA[tidyNOAA$CROPDMGEXP == "B", ]$CROPDMG * 10^9
library(ggplot2)

# plot number of fatalities with the most harmful event type
fatalities <- aggregate(FATALITIES ~ EVTYPE, data=tidyNOAA, sum) #sum of fatalities
fatalities <- fatalities[order(-fatalities$FATALITIES), ][1:10, ]  #order in decreasing
fatalities$EVTYPE <- factor(fatalities$EVTYPE, levels = fatalities$EVTYPE) # factor type 

ggplot(fatalities, aes(x = EVTYPE, y = FATALITIES)) + 
    geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "blue", las = 3) + 
    theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 90, hjust = 1)) + 
    xlab("Event Type") + ylab("Fatalities") + ggtitle("Number of fatalities by top 10 Weather Events")
## Warning: Ignoring unknown parameters: las

# import ggplot2 library to plot the result
library(ggplot2)
# plot number of injuries with the most harmful event type
injuries <- aggregate(INJURIES ~ EVTYPE, data=tidyNOAA, sum)
injuries <- injuries[order(-injuries$INJURIES), ][1:10, ]
injuries$EVTYPE <- factor(injuries$EVTYPE, levels = injuries$EVTYPE)

ggplot(injuries, aes(x = EVTYPE, y = INJURIES)) + 
    geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "blue", las = 3) + 
    theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 90, hjust = 1)) + 
    xlab("Event Type") + ylab("Injuries") + ggtitle("Number of injuries by top 10 Weather Events")
## Warning: Ignoring unknown parameters: las

  1. Across the United States, which types of events have the greatest economic consequences?
# import ggplot2 library to plot the result
library(ggplot2)
# plot number of damages with the most harmful event type
damages <- aggregate(PROPDMGNUM + CROPDMGNUM ~ EVTYPE, data=tidyNOAA, sum)
names(damages) = c("EVTYPE", "TOTALDAMAGE")
damages <- damages[order(-damages$TOTALDAMAGE), ][1:10, ]
damages$EVTYPE <- factor(damages$EVTYPE, levels = damages$EVTYPE)

ggplot(damages, aes(x = EVTYPE, y = TOTALDAMAGE)) + 
    geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "blue", las = 3) + 
    theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 90, hjust = 1)) + 
    xlab("Event Type") + ylab("Damages ($)") + ggtitle("Property & Crop Damages by top 10 Weather Events")
## Warning: Ignoring unknown parameters: las