ATLANTA — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said gas prices in parts of the state rose 20 cents over the weekend after a pipeline leak, but he didn’t consider that price gouging.

“It changes overnight sometimes that much,” he said.

Bentley toured Colonial Pipeline’s emergency response center, in a luxury resort hotel about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the pipeline breach, and spent much of a news conference Monday praising the company’s response.

A disaster drill was held coincidentally last year near the scene of the spill, he said, and that helped the company plan and execute a response that included about 700 people so far.

Colonial said it was working “around the clock” to repair the break and supplies have been delivered or are on their way to locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Colonial said Monday evening in a statement that it expects the temporary pipeline to be running by the end of the week but gave no specific day.

On Tuesday, gas prices continued to climb in several southern states, the auto club AAA reported.

In Georgia, Tuesday’s average price for regular gas rose about 5 cents since Monday, to an average $2.36 statewide — up nearly 27 cents over the past week. Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw prices climb since Monday, AAA reported Tuesday.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve noticed that the prices have just gone up — I mean, through the roof!” Tom Wargo said at a gas station northeast of Atlanta.

Wargo runs a nonprofit organization that supplies pet food to people in need and spends much of his time on the road. He just returned from a road trip to Louisiana, where he helped people after the floods there, he said.

“I tried getting gas yesterday and a lot of the stations had no gas at all, except diesel,” Wargo said Monday.