Fragments of broken things came wooshing down upon him. He ducked. The explosion created a spectacular looking cloud of flame and smoke. Howls of pain and despair issued from the clouds of smoke, mingled with the gasps of desperate people lying on the ground, struggling for life.

---use the actions/reactions of people to indicate how severe were the damage made by explosion. People were suffering from ‘pain’, even ‘gasping with pain’, they were ‘howling’. These show the damage of the bomb, showing the crucial nature of war.

---the word ‘wooshing’ indicates the same thing. The fragments weren’t floating, nor dropping, but wooshing down, with high speed and threatening lives of people.