ATLANTA  As a gasoline shortage in the South drags through its second week, drivers have gone from being mildly annoyed to deeply frustrated, with lines hours long at service stations in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Southern drivers could continue to face long lines, high prices and widespread station closings until mid-October, the AAA automobile club said Monday, although the problem may begin to improve this week.

“If I had to put a date on it, I’d say things won’t be normal for two more weeks,” said Kenneth B. Medlock III, an energy expert at Rice University, in Houston.

The problem began when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered Gulf Coast refineries, reducing the national refinery capacity by as much as 20 percent. It worsened as nervous drivers stockpiled gasoline.