My guess is that the angels were sent instead of God just blastig the place for two reasons: (1) give aid to Lot in a form he could understand and (2) give the people of Sodom one last chance to repent. Remember, angels can be terrifying (as in capable of instilling terror, powerful, etc., not as in “bad”) things. Angels who strike people blind would definitely seem to fit into the “terrible” category. And still the people did not repent. Or even just run away! That’s arrogance. Then, well, they got a big Almighty ZZZZOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT...
When God ZOTS you, you KNOW you’ve been ZOTTED :)
RE: Angels who strike people blind would definitely seem to fit into the “terrible” category.
An Angel slew an army of 85,000 Assyrians that was trying to attack Judah under King Hezekiah’s reign ((2 Kings 19:35).